Before the Stench of Blood
by Chi-Mori-Garu-Rune
Summary: Back when Uchiha Itachi became a Genin, things looked much brighter. He had a new nice team, his family was relatively normal and his future looked bright. - Follows the actual Naruto timeline and story, but has a great amount of artistic creativity.
1. Entering Team 10!

Uchiha Itachi sighed deeply as he sat by his regular desk at the Academy. He had graduated the day before, with quite impressing grades according to his teacher. There was no reason why he would have to continue at the Academy for as much as another day. He was only seven. He tapped his kunai into the desk, breaking a flint of the wood free. He had been waiting for over an hour. He did not like to be kept waiting like this.

The door slammed open, revealing a girl that looked to be even younger than him. He took one quick look at her, and decided she couldn't be much of a ninja. Her oddly green hair was long, falling to the middle of her back and hung in a thick braid with a big, pink bow at the end of it. Her eyes seemed to be the exact same color as her hair, but were in reality slightly darker. Her skin was tan and she was wearing a huge grin on her face along with a simple, pink kimono with a green obi with her Konoha hetai-ate on the front and a big bow on the back. It looked ridiculous. And her ninja shoes were replaced by a pair of pink boots with green bows on them, but still with an open room for her toes. "Are you Itachi-kun?" She asked in an annoyingly cute voice.

"Hai." Itachi replied smoothly, crossing his arms over his chest and turning his gaze to the window. A girl like that wasn't worthy of his gaze. He adjusted the hetai-ate on his forehead, feeling oddly proud of himself for having it. Even though a girl like her wore one as well. She had probably borrowed it from her father or brother. He glanced back. She had not moved.

She tilted her head to the side cutely as he looked back at her. "I'm Kitchi Tsumori, but you can just call me Mori-chan! I'm in Genin squad ten, and you're our new member! I'm here to collect you on the orders of Rune-sensei!" She exclaimed cutely, clasping her hands in front of her body before bowing to him, showing her respects.

Itachi felt his eye twitch. That girl was on his team? But she was even younger than him, by the looks of it, and she was so adorable that it was disgusting. He let out a sigh and pinched the bridge of his nose between his index finger and thumb. He was going to have to hurry up and become Chuunin so he could get rid of this annoying person. He stood from his seat, nonetheless, to follow the girl as she began to leave, expecting him to do the same.

She led him through the village, skipping on her feet as she walked, and humming some happy tune that Itachi didn't care to know what was. He was walking casually a few steps behind her, making it seem like he wasn't with her, but just happened to be going in the same direction. He had his hands stuffed in his pockets and his eyes were surveying the shops and stalls around them. He refused to look at his new teammate. They didn't stop, talk or as much as look at each other until they reached their destination; training ground four.

Itachi took a moment to look the two other people there over. The first one to catch his eye was their sensei. He was perfectly normal build, with an average height and not too much muscle, but he certainly had some. He had short, black hair with purple bangs that were brushed to the left so it covered his eye. His visible eye had the same purple shade as his bangs and seemed to have a certain amused tint to it. He was wearing a dark blue mesh shirt that barely even covered his chest and a black vest over it that stood open and covered even less. He was wearing arm-warmers, which matched the blue color of his mesh shirt, and a pair of tight, black pants with a few studs and unnecessary zippers as well as a pair of brown boots that looked way too clumsy to belong on a ninja. The only thing about him that looked remotely ninja, was the big brown belt her wore around his waist, which had a wide, brown part that went over his left shoulder and held several kunai. And to add to his unprofessional look, he had a skull tattoo on his right shoulder and a ring in both ears.

Itachi's eyes drifted to the other person there. He looked to be the same age as himself, only he was a little taller. He had the same black hair as Itachi, only this person kept his short and ruffled. Several of the black strands were falling into his face and half-covering his ruby eyes, even though he was wearing his hetai-ate around his forehead on a crimson piece of cloth. He was wearing a blue top, which had a tall, tight neck and fit perfectly around his slightly muscular but still childish frame and a gray jacket-like thing that covered to the middle of his torso as well as half of his upper arms. He was wearing a pair of dark gray shorts, which were supposed to be held up by braces over his shoulders, but the braces just hung loosely down the sides of his legs. He was wearing regular dark gray ninja shoes and simple black gloves.

"Hello, Itachi-kun. I am Nekoma Runeji, but you can call me Rune-sensei. These are your teammates, Kitchi Tsumori and Bakuoni Garuken, or just Mori-chan and Garu-kun." The adult male spoke as he stepped forward. "I understand that you're seven years old. Am I correct?" He asked in a friendly manner, smiling politely. He had a very open and inviting body language, but the look in his eyes told Itachi that he was pretty much a creep on the inside.

"Hai." Itachi replied monotonously. "I am Uchiha Itachi, aged seven. I am honored and pleased to make your acquaintance." He added with no emotion to his voice as he bowed his head to his superior. He had been taught to act like that by his father. He was the Uchiha prodigy, after all. Anything he did reflected on the Uchiha clan. He wasn't about to give them a reputation of being impolite.

The other male, Itachi presumed he would be the one called Garuken, began laughing. "Oh man, you really are straight out of the Academy, huh? You act like Rune-sensei is all high and mighty. You know, most Jounin are creeps." He said, jutting his elbow into Tsumori's side. When she had moved to stand next to him had failed to grasp Itachi's attention. She giggled cutely and Itachi repressed the urge to vomit.

"Eh?" Runeji said, turning to glare at his two other students. They obviously knew him quite good, since they had the confidence to tease him like that. "You're saying that you'll become a creep when you become a Jounin as well?" He asked, getting a both bored and amused look on his face. How that was even possible seemed like a mystery to Itachi.

Garuken stepped forward, facing the much bigger and older male with equal confidence. "Are you kidding me? I'll be one of the few who would actually be a challenge to _your_ creepiness!" He said, grinning all over his face in a mischievous way. He looked like he was speaking the truth. He seemed to be quite the creep already.

Itachi yelped slightly as his new sensei was suddenly right before his face. He stumbled back, wide-eyed and very surprised. "I think I got the wrong Academy student. Mine was supposed to be an elite kid with the skill of a Jounin. You're just kinda jumpy and gloomy." Runeji said, poking Itachi on the forehead.

Itachi got an angry look on his face. He could handle being made fun of, usually, but no one had the right to doubt his skill like that. He just had a lot of new information to process and he ha let his guard down for a moment. "For your information, I am very much the elite ninja I have been said to be. I am the prodigy of the Uchiha clan and the heir to, one day, take over the police department." He said, straightening his back and lifting his chin up.

Tsumori giggled. "Oh, can I test him, Rune-sensei? Can I? Can I, please?" She begged, jumping around and around in circles around Itachi and Runeji. She seemed to be too full of energy for her own good. Itachi realized that she hadn't been standing still for more than two minutes at the time. Maybe she had some kind of disease?

Runeji laughed and reached out to place his hand on Tsumori's head, ruffling her hair slightly. "Why, of course! You always do, right?" He said, lifting his hand and patting her on the head twice before he stepped back and went to stand beside Garuken. Itachi was slightly befuddled. He had no idea what was going on.

Tsumori answered his question pretty quickly as she went to stand only three steps away from him, directly in front of him. "We're not going to let you join our team until we witness with our own eyes and bodies that you're worthy." She said, bowing her head with her hands clasped in front of her. "So I challenge you. Do you accept?" She asked, moving her body so she stood in a rather odd defensive pose. She had one hand on her back and the other stretched out in front of her, her palm facing him. Her feet were slightly spread and one foot only touched the ground by it's toes.

"Hai." Itachi agreed, bowing his head quickly before he went to attack. He started simple, by running at her and attempting a kick to her side. She merely moved her hand and blocked the kick before she twirled around in an elegant way that made Itachi think of a dancer. She brought her leg up above her head and attempted to kick him on the top of his head while he was off balance.

Itachi didn't let her, of course. He jumped backwards, neatly avoiding a rather powerful kick, he had to admit, that made a small dent in the ground it had hit. Tsumori didn't waste as much as a second before she went at him again, pushing forward at incredible speed. Itachi matched her speed, and soon they were just a blur of black and pink, clashing against each other. The sounds of metal against metal as they drew out their ninja weapons echoed through the training ground. Their steps made no sound, even though they were using their full strength and speed.

Itachi yelped and rolled on the ground after flying several feet back. Tsumori landed gracefully and soundlessly on the ground. She had managed to kick him in the chest. Hard. He laid on the ground, panting for breath and clutching at his shirt as if that would stop the pain. Tsumori just stood there with a grin on her face, not even the slightest out of breath. He felt humiliated. He had lost to a little girl. And a really weird one at that.

"Exceptional!" Runeji exclaimed excitedly, clasping his hands together and raising them above his head. His eye was filled with that certain tint of amusement again. He went to stand so he was looming above Itachi. "You're excellent!" He seriously. "Just what we need!" He added happily, reaching a hand out for Itachi to take and get up.

Itachi pushed the hand away, standing up on his own. "How can you say that when I was just beaten by a little girl wearing pink?" He growled lowly, taking a step back and away from the others. The humiliation cut deep in him. How could he lose? He was the Uchiha prodigy and an elite ninja. He couldn't lose to a little girl wearing pink.

Runeji laughed wholeheartedly. It was a low, deep laugh that matched his masculine appearance. "You fell for her distractions, I see." He said, the amusement in his eyes were increased by tenfold. "Mori-chan is a kunoichi, what did you expect? She just used her adorable looks to confuse and mislead her opponent. You took her lightly because of her appearance, right? Imagine of she had actually wanted to kill you." He said, getting a rather dangerous look on his face, but the amusement never leaving his eyes.

Itachi took another step back. He felt even more humiliated now. He had fallen for a simple trick like that. He glared at Tsumori, but she only kept that cute grin on her face. "It's not her fault, Itachi-kun. You were the one who let your defense down because she didn't look like e challenge. What did you think? That she was just made Genin before she even entered the Academy because she was cute looking? C'mon. Deep down, you knew she was awesome. You just refused to acknowledge it." Garuken said, stepping in between Tsumori and Itachi with his hands on his hips and a scowl on his face.

Tsumori stepped forward, pushing Garuken slightly to the side. "I apologize for tricking you, even though we're teammates, but it was necessary for me to see all of your skill, both in combat and at mind." she said softly, her voice still sickly sweet. So she hadn't been making a complete fool of him. She really was a sweet person. Or maybe she just always acted.

"You shouldn't apologize, Mori-chan. It's all part of being a ninja. But, I think we should take a moment to get to know one another better. I'll start. I already told you that my name is Nekoma Runeji, and that I want you to just call me Rune-sensei. My hobbies are women and drinking. I like women, a lot. I dislike the times when I have to be serious." He said before pointing one of his slender fingers at Garuken.

Garuken bowed his head slightly. "I go by the name Bakuoni Garuken, but you can call me Garu-kun. My hobbies include drawing, swimming and playing my Juushichi-gen. I like art of almost any kind and I dislike people who can't appreciate life." He said, smiling lazily at Itachi before pointing a finger to Tsumori.

Tsumori jumped up and down several times while waving enthusiastically with both hands. "I'm Kitchi Tsumori, but I really like being called Mori-chan! My hobbies are cooking and dancing! I like plants and flowers a lot and I dislike dark places!" She said happily, striking her fist into the air so her long, wide sleeve fell down to her shoulder. She brought her arm back down, stretched out in front of her, as she pointed to Itachi.

Itachi sighed and rubbed his hand over his hair. "My name is Uchiha Itachi, and I prefer that you call me my my actual name – Itachi. My hobbies are training, learning new Jutsu and taking care of my little brother. I like my little brother and I dislike when people think little of me because of my age." He said quite simply with a rather blank look on his face.

Tsumori jumped forward, yes she actually jumped, and glared at him, though it looked adorable even though she was attempting to be angry. "You're doing it wrong! You're supposed to tell something about you, not just about your ninja life! We want to know you as the person Uchiha Itachi, not the ninja Uchiha Itachi!" She exclaimed, poking her little finger to his chest.

Itachi sighed and pushed her hand away. "That _is_ who I am. I've been trained to be a ninja my entire life." He said, frowning at the girl's stupidity. Of course he had. How else would he be so good at such a young age? She was even younger than him, so she had to be too. He looked at the shocked expression on her face. Maybe not.

"Y-You've never been anything but a ninja? How insane! When I was little, I wanted to be a dancer! I trained my dances every day! But... some old fart came by and saw me dance in the back yard one day and talked to my parents and I began my ninja training. He said my movement was my natural way of fighting." Tsumori said, smiling all the time, even though it was a rather sad thing to say.

Garuken waved his hand dismissively. "I wanted to be a musician, but my dad got me in at the Academy so I had to go. They said I was a natural at being a ninja and I was assigned to this team. Well, with another guy instead of you. I barely have time to play my music anymore." He said casually, looking the other way.

Runeji placed a hand on each of their heads. "Now now, don't scare Itachi-kun away from being a ninja, you two. Tell him about how happy you are now. See, even though they didn't get to become what they initially wanted to, being a ninja has become their calling. They live only to be ninja now, but that doesn't mean it is all they are. Right guys?" He said, ruffling their hair.

Tsumori giggled cutely and Garuken chuckled lowly. "Hai, Rune-sensei!" They said in unison. Both had this tone of amusement and happiness to their voice as they said that. Why did they sound so happy about devoting their life to something they didn't really want. Itachi didn't get it.

Suddenly, Itachi's eyes widened and his mouth dropped open. "Shit..." He muttered, turning on his heel to run back towards the village. "I promised my mother I would take care my little brother! I have to go!" He yelled back at them as he ran.

"Meet here at seven sharp in the morning!" He heard Runeji's voice from somewhere far behind him. He was sprinting down the street at full speed. He turned the corner that led to the Uchiha compound and twirled on his feet, making an elegant half-circle around an old lady. She smiled and waved at him, but he didn't have time for something like that. He barged into his home, kicking his shoes off immediately and bent down to fall on his knees just in time to catch Sasuke as he came running at him, hugging his brother tightly.

"'elcom' 'ome, 'Tachi!" The younger Uchiha brother exclaimed happily, looking at his brother with huge, adorable and utterly happy eyes. Itachi smiled down at his little brother before he hugged him close. He loved his little brother so much it hurt. "'Tachi, why cry?" Sasuke asked in a small voice. It hurt so much.


	2. Our First Mission!

Itachi yawned softly while he stretched his arms out over his head. It was six thirty in the morning. It was still remotely dark outside. The wind was rather chilly and he was on his way to training ground four. His new sensei, Runeji, had told him to be there at seven sharp. He was going to be there a little early to make sure he wasn't late. He waved at the same old lady he had been about to run into the day before when he had gone home to babysit Sasuke. She smiled and waved back at him.

He walked slowly, enjoying the silence and solitude on the empty streets. He was glad he had chosen to leave early, of the streets would be filled with Academy students on their way to the Academy. They would be noisy and annoying. He sighed. He had been one of those Academy students just a day ago. He wasn't sure how to handle being a Genin. He glanced to his left and nearly died, realizing that Garuken was walking beside him. How long had he been there? He managed not to let his surprise show, however, and just kept walking in silence with the other boy.

Once the two Genin got to training ground four, Garuken sighed and stretched. "Ah! There's nothing like the fresh morning air to take away all your troubles, don't you agree, Itachi-kun?" He asked, stretching down to touch his toes while keeping his legs stretched as well before rising and doing it again.

Itachi raised one of his fine, black eyebrows and shrugged. "I guess." He said simply, watching his new teammate do some more stretching exercises. "What exactly are we going to be doing?" He asked, getting a little nervous. His body was used to hours of harsh training, but if a person who already had excessive ninja training felt the need to stretch out, perhaps he needed to as well.

Garuken stood straight and stared at Itachi for a few moments. "Missions, of course. We never know what we'll be doing, but it'll probably be something really easy since it's your first day." He finally said, grinning happily at his new teammate. He watched the small smile that graced over Itachi's features. It seemed he wasn't so used to smiling.

"Good morning!" Tsumori yelled sweetly as she came running towards them at full speed. Garuken caught her in the air as she jumped at him and twirled her around before placing back on the ground right where she would have landed if he hadn't caught her. "Isn't it just a beautiful day?" She exclaimed happily as she walked over to Itachi before standing on her tip toes in order to embrace him around the neck.

Itachi stiffened at the familiar feeling of an embrace. He looked down at Tsumori just as she let go of him and beamed him a brilliantly adorable smile. He, once again, repressed the urge to vomit. "Hai. The weather seems to be rather pleasant today." He replied, brushing his clothes back in place after Tsumori had crumbled them. He decided not to comment on her impoliteness and breaking of his personal space.

Tsumori turned in her back so her spine gave a few cracks and then reached her arms above her head to stretch. She yawned and giggled softly before tugging the skirt on her kimono back down so it at least covered most of her thighs. Itachi found it very unsuitable for such a young girl to wear such an exposing outfit. "Not a morning person?" She asked, leaning forward and tilting her head cutely as she asked him the question.

Garuken put his arm around Tsumori's shoulders and smirked. "I don't think he's an any time of the day person." He said, reaching out to pat Itachi on the head. Itachi slapped his hand away and frowned. "Oh, so you'll let Mori-chan hug you, but I can't touch your head?" He asked, getting a bored look on his face.

Itachi's eyes widened ever so slightly and his eyebrows went down. He looked unpleasantly shocked. "What are you suggesting?" He snapped, clenching his fists. He glared at the other male, who still just looked bored, and for the first time in a long time wished his Sharingan would awaken. He wanted to kick his butt and send him to the deepest pits of hell for thinking he was a pervert of some kind.

Garuken took a step backwards, calmly, and placed his hands on the back of his head, flattening a patch of his wildly spiked out black hair. "Eh? I think we need to work a little on his temper, Rune-sensei." He said, turning around on one foot and walking back towards where Runeji was suddenly standing. What was it with these people and appearing out of no where?

"It seems so." Runeji said, nodded his head and placing one hand on his own chin as if thought. "But there's no room for that now. Shijimi-sama lost Tora again. Our job is to bring her back safely. Itachi-kun, since you aren't familiar with Tora, just remember one thing; she has a red ribbon on her right ear." He said seriously.

Itachi rose one of his fine eyebrows, having calmed down immediately after seeing their sensei there. "A ribbon...?" He mused quietly as his teammates got ready by taking the short ranged radio that they would be using to communicate. He accepted the one handed to him as well and placed it on.

"All right. Mission: Find Tora the lost cat!" Runeji exclaimed, punching the air in front of him and making a sound that sounded quite much like 'yoshi'. The two other Genin followed his example, but Itachi only crossed his arms over his chest and shook his head. He was not doing that. "Whatever." Runeji said casually before running off into the village and jumping onto the closest building.

Garuken ran off quite quickly as well, barely sparing Itachi a glance before he ran off at quite high speed and jumping onto a building, going in the opposite direction as Runeji. Tsumori waved at him and offered a brilliant smile before she ran off as well, though she decided to stay on the ground and chose the area in the middle. Itachi sighed and ran off as well.

He decided to stay on the ground, since jumping on people's roofs were actually quite rude, and the sound was just annoying to anyone inside. He kept an eye on his surroundings, uncertain of what he was supposed to find. He understood as much as the fact that it was a cat and that it had a red ribbon on it's ear, but he had no idea what was going on other than that.

"_Found her._" Tsumori's voice cracked through the headset to the radio. Itachi's eyes widened. So quickly and in such a big village. "_She's on the roof of the Academy building._" Tsumori's voice added. Itachi turned a corner and began running in the direction of the Academy. He jumped onto the roof of a building in order to take the shortest route there. Who cared if his footsteps on people's roofs were annoying.

He arrived at the Academy just in time to see Tsumori sneaking closer to the cat. It was hissing and meowing angrily at her. It obviously had no intentions of going back to wherever it had run off from. Tsumori launched at the cat and the cat ran. Itachi merely reached his hand out and grabbed the running cat by the fur on it's neck. It hissed and meowed violently and struck out for his hand, but remained in his grip. "Now what?" He asked, a small, victorious smirk spreading on his lips.

Tsumori jumped down to him, looking cutely angry again. "What are you doing? That cat belongs to Shijimi-sama! The Feudal Lord's wife! She's have your head on a platter if she sees you treating her precious cat like that!" She exclaimed in a cutely angry voice.

Itachi sighed and pulled the cat close to his chest, making sure it's paws were trapped between him and itself. It couldn't swipe at him. He gave Tsumori a 'is this better?' look and she smiled cutely at him. He turned on his heel and began walking towards the Hokage building with Tsumori at his side. "We have it." He said casually into the headset.

"_Great! Meet up in front of Hokage Tower._" Runeji's voice crackled over the headset. Itachi didn't bother to respond, and neither did Tsumori seemingly. They set into run and Itachi followed Tsumori's lead as she jumped onto a building. They were quiet during this run. Itachi had to focus on both where he was going and how he was holding the cat, so he was doing his best to keep an eye on Tsumori as well. It wouldn't be good if he lost her.

As they arrived in front of the Hokage tower, Runeji and Garuken was already waiting for them. Runeji waved and smiled while Garuken just removed his hands from the back of his head in order to give a small wave. Itachi held the cat out slightly, showing it to them. "Well done, Itachi-kun." Garuken said, giving him a thumb up.

Itachi only nodded his head and looked at their sensei, awaiting any further orders he might have. "Now we take the cat inside and give it back to the client and we get paid." Runeji said, placing one of his hands on Itachi's head and ruffling his hair slightly. Itachi frowned, but followed behind his sensei and teammates as they went inside.

When they came back out, they were all counting their share of the payment. "Ah, she sure pays nicely considering we just had to fetch a cat!" Tsumori exclaimed happily as she stuffed the bills into her kimono. Garuken stuffed his money into his pant pocket and placed his hands behind his head. Runeji's money disappeared inside his vest and Itachi simply placed his bills in his kunai pouch. He had no where else to put them.

"So, what now?" Itachi asked as they had been walking seemingly nowhere for the last two minutes. He normally enjoyed both silence and solitude, but he was not in the mood to be ignored. He felt oddly out of place when around these people. These people who were going to be his teammates for who knew how long.

Runeji turned to smirk at Itachi, since the Uchiha was walking behind the others. "I'm going to give the three of you a little teamwork exercise. It seems you don't trust the others and they don't seem to really trust you either." He said, stopping by the river.

The three Genin stared at the water for a moment. This was the wildest and most dangerous part of the river. The water was strong enough to pull anyone with it and the current was too strong for them to walk on it. All three turned their heads to stare at Runeji. He just stood there with a stupid grin on his face and a rope in his hand. "What do we have to do?" Garuken finally asked, the horror in his voice not masked one bit.

Runeji laughed deeply in a way that sent shivers down Itachi's spine and caused sweat to break on his forehead. "You're going to cross the river using nothing but each other and this rope." He said darkly, his visible eye shining with a mix between amusement and evil. Itachi tried to swallow the lump in his throat, but it was stuck for good.

Tsumori took the lead, grabbing the rope out of the sensei's hands. She tugged on it a few times, checking it's durability. "All right, guys! We can do this!" She exclaimed enthusiastically. Both Itachi and Garuken doubted it seriously. "Garu-kun, you'll take this end of the rope and hold onto it tightly! Itachi-kun, how good are you at throwing shuriken?" She asked while handing one end of the rope to Garuken.

Itachi smirked. Finally his time to shine had come. "Where should I hit?" He merely asked, his confidence in his skills not lacking one bit. He was a master with weapons. He drew out a shuriken from his pouch and twirled it professionally between his fingers while he waited for the reply.

Tsumori wasn't even looking at him, so his efforts were wasted. But she did hear him and the smugness in his voice. "Just make the rope tie around that branch there. It's gotta be properly stuck, or it could cost me my life." She said seriously while pointing one of her small fingers at a thick branch on a tree remotely close to the shore of the river.

Itachi shrugged his shoulders and glanced back at Garuken to make sure he had a proper hold on the rope before he threw. Garuken only nodded at him. The rope was twisted around his arm twice and he was holding onto it with both hands. Itachi tied the other end of the rope to his shuriken, making sure the knot was strong before he aimed and threw.

The shuriken whizzed through the air, heading straight for it's target. It twirled around the branch three times before lodging itself deeply into the wood. Garuken tugged on the rope. It was stuck all right. "Sugoi, Itachi-kun!" He exclaimed, leaning backwards to show that the rope was able to hold his entire weight. Itachi only smirked.

Tsumori smiled and nodded at Itachi before getting a serious, but still cute, look on her face. "Hold on, Garu-kun!" She said, placing both hands on the rope and stood on the edge of the shore to the river. She took a deep breath to relax and then jumped, landing gracefully with both feet on the rope. She stood till for a moment to regain her balance perfectly before she began walking.

Her steps were slow, but secure. She had her arms stretched out to the sides to support herself and her balance. For such a clumsy-looking person, her balance was exceptional. Well, for anyone, her balance was exceptional. Suddenly, a strong gut of wind caused the rope to literally disappear under her feet. Tsumori gasped and yelped as she fell into the dangerously strong currents below.

Before Itachi's brain caught up to his body, he had drawn several wires from his pouch and launched them at the nearest tree and he was diving head-first into the water. He reached his hand out, grabbing the tiny wrist that belonged to his new teammate. "Mori-chan!" he snapped, tugging her closer to him and holding her against his chest. His other hand, which was wrapped in the wires that kept them from drowning, was dripping with blood. His entire weight along with Tsumori's weight had been stopped by those wires. They had cut deeply into his skin. "Garu-kun!" He nearly begged. He didn't care about his pride. He just didn't want to die.

Garuken quickly grabbed a hold of the wires, tugging on them and pulling of all his might. Even with his gloves on, the friction hurt his hands. He couldn't even imagine the pain Itachi was feeling in his hand. He pulled one last time, bringing his two teammates close enough to the edge of the shore for Itachi to grab the wet soil and pull both of them up. Itachi couched, but his attention was on Tsumori. She had hit the water pretty painfully and it had knocked her out.

Garuken pushed Itachi aside without a second thought. "Mori-chan! Mori-chan, wake up!" He yelled, shaking the small girl by her shoulders. Itachi glanced at Runeji. He was still just smirking, looking evil. "Mori-chan!" Garuken cried, slapping her cheeks softly.

Itachi gritted his teeth. He pushed Garuken aside gently and slid one arm under Tsumori's small frame. He placed his lips over hers and used the other hand to hold her nostrils closed as he blew air into her lungs. He drew his head back, breathed in, and repeated. Tsumori began coughing. Itachi held her up to a sitting position and allowed her to vomit up the water that had entered her lungs. He sighed, relieved, and closed his eyes.

Garuken turned to their sensei, anger evident on his face. No one could blame him. Helplessness was a horrible feeling. "What the hell, Rune-sensei? What do you think you're doing? She could've died!" He screamed angrily. His fists were clenched so hard that his gloves looked like they would break.

"Garu-kun." Itachi spoke softly, opening his obsidian eyes. He met Garuken's ruby gaze. "He did the right thing." He added, a small smile gracing his lips. He took some bandages out of his pouch and began wrapping his hand tightly, while still holding Tsumori up against his chest to support her.

Garuken looked shocked for a moment, but then got his regular bored look on his face. "I see." He said, letting out a soft sigh. Itachi felt closer to the both of them now. They had faced a dangerous situation together. Now he got why people who were in the same Genin teams stayed friends for life. He understood why so many people sacrificed themselves in order to save their friends. That fear of losing someone, even if it was someone you just met, was even more horrible than the fear of losing ones own life.


	3. Home for the Night

Itachi entered his home, his clothes still dripping wet after his little dive in the river and his cheeks flushed from the cold. He was surely going to be sick. "'Tachi!" Sasuke squealed as he came running from the living room. He spread out his little arms, wanted to be hugged by his older brother like he did every day when Itachi came home.

"Not today, Sasuke-chan. Oniisan is feeling a little sick." Itachi said softly, placing a hand on Sasuke's head and ruffling his hair. Sasuke pouted at him and crossed his little arms over his chest cutely. Itachi chuckled softly and went to the kitchen, finding his mother already cooking. "Tadaima, Okaasan." He said, sniffing as he felt his nose running.

"Okaeri, Itachi-kun." His mother, Mikoto, replied happily before even looking at him. Once she turned her head to smile at him, her jaw dropped open. "Itachi-kun, what happened to you? You're dripping wet!" She exclaimed, dropping the vegetables she had had in her hands to aid her, unbeknownst to himself, trembling son.

"Gomen." Itachi replied, wiping his nose with his wet sleeve. He hated that he had chosen to wear a long-sleeved shirt today. "I'll clean it up later. I'm not feeling well." He said. He frowned a little as he felt his mother place her cold hand against his forehead. He reached up to push her hand away, but felt that his limbs felt like rubber, more so than they had a minute ago.

Mikoto frowned as well upon feeling the heat of her son's skin. He was burning up. "Oh my, you have a fever. You go get out of those wet clothes, take yourself a nice, hot bath and then go straight to bed! I'll bring up some food for you." She said, turning to return to her cooking and leaving Itachi to do her bidding.

"I'm a ninja now, Okaasan. I can handle a little cold." Itachi replied, sitting down at one of the pillows by their dining table. He hadn't noticed that Sasuke was right behind him. The small boy had his hands in Itachi's ninja pouch, shuffling through he weapons with his little fingers. He cried out loudly as his finger brushed against the blade of a kunai. Itachi turned to his crying little brother to see what had happened.

"Sasuke-chan! Oh no, you poor thing!" Mikoto exclaimed, running to help her younger son with the cut on his finger. She carried him to the sink where she held the heavily bleeding limb under the cold water for a moment. "Itachi, you might be a ninja, but you're still both my son and a child! I want you to go do as I said, or I'll have your father take you off the Genin teams!" She scolded the elder brother as she began bandaging Sasuke's little finger.

Itachi huffed as he stood back up. "You're so unfair! I bet Mori-chan's parents don't make her go to bed at freaking five in the afternoon!" He snapped at her, reaching behind him to shuffle through his ninja pouch with one hand. Sasuke had reminded him that he had money in there. "Here. They're soaked, but they'll dry!" He added, throwing the handful of bills at his mother before turning on his heel and stomping to the bathroom to take his bath.

Mikoto stared at the wad of money for a while, simply holding her crying son in her arms. Itachi had made that much in just one day? She stared after him as he disappeared into the bathroom. She was going to wait till later to ask him what had happened today. He seemed oddly defiant to her. He was usually such a good boy.

Itachi peeled his wet clothes off of his body. He hadn't even realized how cold he had been since his mind had been busy ever since he got out of the river. He was shivering and he hadn't even noticed. He mentally failed his own skills on knowing his body as he filled their tub with steaming, hot water. He slid into the water and moaned. The heat felt so nice.

Sasuke slid the door to the bathroom open slowly before he tiptoed inside. He noticed his brother sitting in the tub with his eyes closed and a content smile on his face, so he quickly removed his clothing in order to join Itachi. He jumped into the water, giving a large splash.

Itachi gasped and sat up straight as Sasuke entered the water without any kind of warning. The small Uchiha boy was happily splashing his hands in the water, getting a few droplets of it on Itachi. "Let me wash you hair." Itachi said softly, reaching out for the shampoo and pouring some into his hands.

Sasuke nodded and turned so his back was facing his older brother. He giggled happily while Itachi massaged the lemon-scented shampoo into his raven strands. "'Tachi feel better?" Sasuke asked, turning his head to look at Itachi. His brother was still looking rather flushed, but that could just have been from the warm water. But he was looking really tired as well, and it wasn't just those odd lines under his eyes. He seemed to be in thought as well.

Itachi nodded his head at his brothers question before he began rubbing shampoo into his own hair. "I feel much better, Sasuke." He assured his little brother. He suddenly remembered the fact that his hand was still wrapped in bandages and began to peel the wet cloth off of his bloody hand. He winced at the sight of it. The cuts were pretty deep, but not deep enough to leave a permanent mark. He dipped the hand in the water, washing the blood off of his skin carefully.

Sasuke stared at his brother's bloody hand and then down at the small cut on his own finger. It didn't seem so bad anymore. He reached out and placed his own small hand on top of Itachi's. His brother had a far off look in his eyes, as if he wasn't really there. "'Tachi, what's wrong?" He asked, his voice holding sadness at seeing his precious brother like that.

Itachi snapped back to reality at the feel of Sasuke's hand on his own and his soft and sad voice asking him what was wrong. Itachi smiled softly, that kind and brotherly smile he reserved for Sasuke and Sasuke alone. "Nothing's wrong, Sasuke-chan. I'm just a little tired. I had my first mission today." He said as he filled a bucket with water in order to rinse out Sasuke's hair. Sasuke's hands went up to his eyes as Itachi began pouring the water onto his head. "Go dry off and get dressed and you can come sleep in my bed tonight." He said, poking the tip of Sasuke's nose.

Sasuke nodded his head happily and jumped out of the water, running wet and naked over to the towels to dry himself off. Itachi watched in amusement as he, very neatly, wiped his body off with the oversized towel. After ruffling his hair with the towel as well, not really drying it properly but just messing it up, he threw the towel on the floor and proceeded to pull his clothes on before he ran out of the room upon hearing the front door open.

Itachi rinsed his hair carefully and got out of the tub, pulling the plug so that the water swirled away. He grabbed a clean towel and wiped both his body and hair dry before just wrapping the towel around his waist, seeing as the clothes he had with him was still dripping wet. He glanced at his father, who was talking to a very excited Sasuke, and nodded his head in greeting. His father nodded back, so Itachi proceeded up the stairs to his room.

He threw on a pair of boxers and a plain, black shirt before climbing into bed and resting his head on his pillow. He didn't feel like he had the energy to pull his covers over himself, even though he hadn't really done much during the day. His muscles ached and his head was spinning. He really was getting sick. He closed his eyes and thought.

Tsumori had asked him if he had never wanted to be anything but a ninja, and his obvious answer was no. He had always, for as long as he could remember, been trained for that purpose. She had wanted to be a dancer and Garuken had wanted to be a musician. Did he really want to be a ninja? He didn't know. He was considered a genius amongst geniuses at the ninja arts, so how could he be anything but that? It was in his blood and brain. It was all he ever knew.

Both his parents were ninja, although his mother wasn't taking missions anymore so that she could stay home with Sasuke, and hadn't been ever since Itachi was born. But they were ninja. All of his cousins, uncles and aunts were ninja. Even Shisui was a ninja. How was he supposed to know that there might be more to life than just being a ninja?

He knew about being a parent, seeing as many of the Uchiha women chose to give up their careers and stay home with their children once they had some. And he knew he wanted to have a son one day. A cute one, like Sasuke. And he knew about death. Plenty of people he knew had went out on missions but never came home. His mother couldn't keep telling him they had just moved away. Some of them had been mothers or fathers. Parents didn't just leave their children behind.

He rolled onto his side, his eyes still closed and his body shivering slightly from the fever. He knew nothing about anything but being a ninja. He was destined to be so. Even if he had wanted to be something else, his entire being and lifestyle had chosen his path for him. And he was fine with that. Maybe being a ninja wasn't the best job for a child like himself, but he was good at it and he was helping his village. He was making the world a safe place for Sasuke to grow up.

A soft smile spread over his lips. He wanted Sasuke to grow up safely. Maybe if he trained hard enough, and tried his best, there would be no need for ninja when Sasuke got old enough to be one. Maybe the world could be a better place by that time.

Mikoto stood in the door to Itachi's room with a bowl of vegetable soup in her hands. She saw the soft smile that was spreading across her son's face. She had told Sasuke to wait until she got back till he went to see Itachi. "Itachi-kun, do you want some soup?" She asked softly, her voice rather low in case the boy was still asleep.

Itachi opened his eyes and looked at his mother. She seemed to be concerned. "If you don't mind." He replied, sitting up and leaning his back against the headrest. His mother placed the tray with the bowl and spoon in his lap and took a seat on the edge of his bed. He began slowly scooping up the soup and bringing it to his mouth.

Mikoto sat there in silence for a while, allowing Itachi to eat a little before she started a conversation. "So... How was your day, honey?" She asked softly, watching her son's face. Itachi remained his own calm self however and just placed his spoon down on the tray.

"It went well. We had our first mission, to collect some stupid cat that ran away. It paid well, though. It was easy and done quickly, so our sensei gave us a teamwork exercise." He said matter-of-fact-ly and picked his spoon back up in order to resume his eating. He hadn't realized how hungry he was until he had started eating.

"Oh." Mikoto said, waiting a little while her son ate some more. "What kind of exercise?" She asked, smiling softly once more. Some teachers had rather odd ways of strengthening the bonds of the Genin. Some even put them in life threatening situations. Her teacher had them carry each other all the way through the village. It had been tough.

Itachi placed his spoon down again and smiled at his mother. "We had to cross the river using nothing but a rope." He said, motioning his hands to mimic holding a rope. "We failed and my teammate fell in the water. I jumped in to save her and got drenched. She nearly drowned, so I had to give her mouth-to-mouth, but she was fine by the time I left." He said casually, as if it was the most normal thing in the world to say.

Mikoto blinked a few times. Their teacher had allowed one of his students to nearly die? He couldn't be much of a teacher then. "I feel weird not knowing the names of the people you're talking about. What's your teammates and sensei's names?" She asked, placing a hand on Itachi's knee while she smiled in that motherly way of hers.

Itachi thought for a while. "Well, my sensei is Runeji, but I don't remember his surname. Then there's Mori-chan and Garu-kun, they're my teammates. They asked me to call them that. They've been Genin for some time and know each other well, but I was just added to their team." He said, stirring his soup a little without really wanting to eat more.

Mikoto's eyes widened and her jaw twitched. "Did you say that your sensei was Runeji? As in Nekoma Runeji?" She asked sweetly, even though the look on her face was both desperate and angry. Itachi nodded his head, not quite understanding. Mikoto stood from her seat. "Sleep tight, dear. Just leave the tray on your bed stand and I'll come get it later." She said sweetly before leaving the room, stomping as soon as she was out of the room.

Itachi shrugged his shoulders, being quite used to his mother's odd behavior at times. He continued scooping soup into his mouth repeatedly, enjoying the warm feeling that spread through his body as well as the taste and his stilling hunger. He wanted no more than just just slurp it all down and go to sleep, but he felt that his manners were more important, even though he was currently all alone.

"Oniisan..." Sasuke said lowly from the door. Itachi turned his head to look at his little brother and smiled softly. "Okaasan said I can't sleep here." He said softly, his small feed padding on the floor as he walked to his brother's bed and climbed onto it. "She says I'll get sick, too." He added with a sad face.

Itachi reached over and ruffled Sasuke's, still damp, mass of raven hair. "It'll be fine. You can sleep with me tomorrow instead." He said reassuringly before drawing his hand back in order to continue eating. Sasuke just stared at him for a while. It was starting to bother him. He didn't like it when people watched him eating.

"What happened to your hand?" Sasuke finally asked, reaching out to touch the deep marks on Itachi's hand. He had been wondering since he noticed ti in the bath, but Itachi wasn't the type who liked to talk about when he did something wrong. Maybe he had failed at some kind of ninja thing and gotten hurt.

Itachi smiled softly once again, putting his spoon down and holding his hand out so Sasuke could both see and touch it. "I got hurt while using ninja wires to save a friend of mine. Remember, Sasuke-chan, that even weapons that don't have a blade can be very dangerous." He said, pointing to a roll of ninja wire that was lying on his floor with the other hand.

Sasuke turned his head to look at the string and glared at it as if it was that particular string that had cut Itachi's hand. This caused Itachi to laugh out softly. Sasuke liked the sound of Itachi's laugh. His voice was quite dark for someone that young and his laugh rumbled in his chest. It was different when he chuckled. But Itachi rarely laughed. Sasuke often wondered if he was unhappy.

Mikoto stepped into the room and sighed. "Sasuke-chan, it's time fro both you and Itachi to go to bed." She said. Sasuke jumped to the side so her was clinging around Itachi's chest. Itachi had to steady both himself and his tray with soup, which he handled quite well. His reaction was abnormally fast and his movements perfectly calculated, even though the whole thing had taken less than a second. "Sasuke-chan, your brother is sick and needs to get better or he can't go play with his new friends tomorrow!" Mikoto scolded the younger brother while putting both her hands on her hips.

"I wanna have 'Tachi stay home!" Sasuke exclaimed, tightening his hold on his brother. "I wanna have Oniisan play with me!" He added, burring his face in Itachi's chest. Mikoto's eyes softened. Sasuke had always had Itachi around. He was always there to play with him. But he had started at the Academy a few months ago, and that had taken away six hours of his day every day. Being a Genin took away even more time, and Itachi wouldn't have time to do both his training and playing with Sasuke.

Itachi patted Sasuke's head softly. "We'll play tomorrow when I get home, okay, Sasuke?" He said in a brotherly tone. He gently peeled the small child off of his side and handed him over to his mother. She took Sasuke and held him close to her so he could wrap his arms around her neck.

Mikoto walked to the door, but turned just before she was out. "I probably wont be up when you leave tomorrow, so I'll tell you now. Have a good day, honey." She said before throwing a small wave and leaving the room, sliding the door shut before padding down the hallway and into Sasuke's room to tug him in.

Itachi sighed and placed his tray on the beside table before reaching down to pull his covers on. He laid down on his side, feeling utterly exhausted. He wouldn't have minded having Sasuke to snuggle with. He felt like he was freezing. He hated having a fever. He closed his eyes and allowed sleep to cloud his mind. Soon he drifted away to a dreamless sleep.


	4. Babysitting

Itachi furrowed his brows as he looked at the scroll his sensei was holding up. He had been Genin for little over a week now, and had yet to do anything that would even remotely challenge his skill. He hadn't even had use of any of his ninja talent yet, unless you count that he decided to use a kunai when he was removing weeds from some old woman's yard and had used his shuriken to remove the dirt under his nails after washing dozens of dogs.

And now his sensei was holding up a scroll which had their new assignment on it. Babysitting. They were going to babysit a couple of snotty brats. There were a boy and two girls. One was aged five, as the oldest, one was aged three and the last was merely a year old. The boy was the middle one.

Garuken's eye twitched slightly and his lip did a weird little tug as if his jaw was cramping. "You're kidding, right?" He asked, his deadpan voice telling them all just how seriously he didn't want to do this mission. "Right?" He added, his voice almost threatening as if he was indeed going to kill Runeji if he answered anything but yes.

Runeji seemed to have missed his murderous intent as he wagged his finger in front of him and shook his head. "Iie~! I'm very serious!" He replied, swinging the scroll from side to side as if taunting them. "This is your mission for the day." He added, the evil glint returning to his eye. He was enjoying seeing them squirm.

Itachi felt a drop of sweat run down the side of his head. This was going to be a horrible day. "Yatta!" Tsumori exclaimed, hopping from one foot to the other while she waved her hands excitedly. "I love kids!" She added happily.

"You are a kid." Both Itachi and Garuken said at once. Itachi placed a hand on his hip, leaning that hip to the side and Garuken placed both hands behind his head and grinned while Tsumori just pouted and stopped jumping around. Runeji chuckled softly and reached out, poking Tsumori's forehead so a little red dot appeared.

"No fair, Rune-sensei! I wanna play with the kids!" Tsumori exclaimed, barely even noticing the poke to her head. She flailed her arms around as if she had been denied the candy she had been promised, and then crossed her arms over her chest. "I like kids!" She added in a cutely grumpy tone.

Itachi chuckled softly in that way that he used to only do around Sasuke. Tsumori had begun to awaken his brotherly instincts as well. "We're supposed to babysit them, Mori-chan, not play with them." He said, placing a hand on her head in order to ruffle her bangs a little. A small smile spread over his lips as he removed his hand from her head.

Both Runeji and Garuken laughed a little while Tsumori just pouted some more. "Anyways, you guys better get going. I have another mission, so you're on your own today." Runeji said, reaching over to ruffle Itachi's hair, silently leaving him in charge for the day. Itachi only nodded while Runeji left, waving his hand over his shoulder.

Garuken clapped his hands together and grinned at his teammates. "Let's do this! We're gonna kick those kids' asses!" He said enthusiastically. His face then twisted to an odd mix between a frown and a confused look. "I mean, figuratively speaking." He said sheepishly while rubbing the side of his head.

Itachi, Tsumori and Garuken all stared at the tree kids standing before them. Their mother was still behind them, holding a hand on the oldest girl and the boy's head while the youngest girl was being held by the elder. "This is Metsuki-chan, Ichirou-kun and Yuu-chan, my children and your subjects for the day. Metsuki-chan has to do some ninja training, Ichirou-kun has to clean his room and I want you to help me teach Yuu-chan how to read." The young mother said. She looked rather tired and worn, which wasn't odd seeing as she was most likely alone with the three kids.

Itachi stepped out, falling to his knees and bowing his head to the floor. "They will be in our care, Kimura-san." He said politely. Itachi had been taught proper etiquette and manners by his clan, so he always took care of things like that, seeing as Tsumori was too easily excited and Garuken just didn't care enough to learn.

"What a nice young man you are. If you do the job good, I might even add a little to your fee." The Kimura mother said sweetly, ruffling Itachi's hair. It took all of his willpower not to reach out and slap her hand away. She stepped away from her children and waved. "Behave." She said to them before she left.

Less than three seconds after the mother had disappeared from sight, Metsuki and Ichirou jumped at each other. Ichirou grabbed a handful of Metsuki's hair and Metsuki sank her teeth into Ichirou's shoulder. Suddenly the three Genin knew why it took ninja to babysit them. Their speed was unnatural for kids their age.

"Stop that." Itachi said coolly, drawing a kunai from his weapon pouch. As they didn't stop, he threw the kunai. It hit straight between their faces and lodged itself deeply into the wall behind. The two children stopped to stare at him. "If you don't behave, I wont miss the next time." He stated, holding up his hand which seemingly held one shuriken, only to spread his fingers a little and skillfully show that he actually had five.

Yuu started crying loudly, wiping her eyes with her small hands. Tsumori ran to her side, picking the small girl up. "Itachi-kun, you're scaring them!" She exclaimed angrily, though since it was Tsumori, she still looked adorable. She was holding the girl in her arms as if she was protecting the small thing.

"Gomen, Mori-chan." Itachi said with a sigh, reaching his free hand up to flatten his hair after the mother's assault to the dark strands. "I'll take the boy. He's Sasuke's age, so I know how to handle him." He added, reaching his hand out to the small boy. Ichirou hesitated, but eventually took Itachi's hand. It was fine. Itachi had plenty of patience.

"I'll take the little one. I trust Garu-kun with my life, but he really isn't suited for taking care of a child. We'll let him handle the oldest one." Tsumori said, shifting the smaller girl in her arms so it was resting on her hip and clutching to her kimono.

Garuken crossed his arms over his chest and snorted. "Fine, I'll train the girl." He said, reaching out and grabbing a hold of Metsuki's hand. The girl only scrunched her nose up and shook her head. Garuken raised one of his eyebrows, letting go of her hand to cross his arms again. "What?" He asked, his jaw twitching with annoyance.

"Iie~!" Metsuki said, holding up her index finger and wagging it from side to side. "I wanna go with pretty-boy~!" She added, moving her hand so she was pointing at Itachi with the same finger she had used for wagging. She smiled cutely and used her other hand to play with a strand of her brown hair.

Itachi huffed. "Fine." He said, turning his head away and sighing. He really didn't want to have to deal with a little ninja girl. His patience was at it's peak when he was with Sasuke, because he loved Sasuke so much that he just couldn't even imagine getting angry with him. But he often lost his temper with Tsumori and Garuken, although they were both more capable than his brother. He knew he was going to loose his cool with this girl as well. He could just feel it in every ounce of his body.

"You're holding it wrong! Don't do like that or you'll hurt yourself once you start moving!" Itachi scolded between heated pants. He placed his hand carefully on Metsuki's hip, guiding her hand. "Like that. Doesn't that feel more natural?" He asked, letting out a relived sigh as she finally stopped listening to him and moved her arm as he told her to.

Metsuki glared at him, moving her arm up and down stupidly with a kunai in her hand. "How can one hold a kunai wrong? We all hold them differently." She said, her eye twitching. It had turned out that it wasn't Itachi who had too little patience for this training, it was Metsuki. Itachi kept correcting her on everything, and in her eyes he was even enjoying it.

Itachi removed his hands from her, furrowing his brows. "If you hold your kunai backwards, it's better for slashing and other forceful close-range attacks, but you need to hold it in your palm if you want to throw it precisely. I told you that already." He said, placing one hand on his hip with a slightly annoyed pose to go with his furrowed brows.

"Tch." Metsuki replied, crossing her arms at her chest and looking away. "Don't talk like you're such a big shot. You're only a couple years older than me." She said angrily, throwing the kunai towards the tree that worked as her target. It flew right past it and hit a tree farther away, only to bounce back off as she hadn't put enough force in.

Itachi sighed and threw five shuriken at the tree they had set as target, causing them to hit in a very precise line with the exact space between each. "Exactly! Don't you get it? I'm only a few years older than you, and I'm already Genin! That means I'm better, _way_ better than most people my age!" He snapped, tugging his hand back to reveal that he had a wire going through the hoops of the shuriken as they snapped back toward him. He caught one on each finger on his left hand.

Metsuki only stared at him for a little while. His ebony hair moved slightly with the wind. The setting sun reflected from his obsidian eyes. His pose radiated superiority and power and she could basically feel his chakra. He was strong. He was handsome. He was older. And he was definitely dangerous. "M-My... My ideal man!" She exclaimed happily, clapping her hands together.

"What?" Itachi asked, raising one of his eyebrows as he placed his shuriken and wire back in his pouch. Not that he ever needed it with these baby missions, but it was best to be on the safe side. "What did you just say?" He added, as if he wasn't sure he had heard it right. He couldn't have.

"Itachi-kun, Garu-kun, Metsuki-san and Ichirou-san! Dinner is ready!" Tsumori's voice sang from the kitchen. Metsuki only blushed and ran inside. Itachi stayed behind a little before he took his time to look at the ground. There were skid-marks everywhere she had stepped. Her movement was so quick that the dirt moved under her. That was why her throws were so bad.

He walked inside, keeping his face down and muttering to himself. He looked up when he hear the baby start crying again. "Itachi-kun, stop being so gloomy. You're scaring the kid." Garuken said casually as he plopped down on a chair by the dining table. He sniffed the air and his eyes grew while a smile spread over his lips. "That smells delicious, Mori-chan!" He exclaimed, sitting up right in his seat for once.

Itachi sniffed the air as well as he took a seat next to the empty seat where Tsumori would be sitting. "It smells sweet." He commented. He could definitely smell sirup. What was sirup doing anywhere near his dinner? He turned his head to look what she was making, but just as he did, she placed a plate in front of him. "... Dango?" He asked, sounding uncharacteristicly stupefied.

Tsumori only nodded her head as she took her seat after having handed all the plates out. "Un! I really like sweet things, and Yuu-chan said she does too!" She exclaimed, stuffing one of the small, brown balls into her mouth. The kids did the same as if there was no worry at all.

Garuken sniffed the food a little before cautiously putting one of the dango into his mouth. His eyes widened and his cheeks flushed red. "Marry me, Mori-chan!" He exclaimed, grabbing her hand across the table. "I'll do missions and you can stay home and cook every day!" He exclaimed happily with little stars in his eyes.

Tsumori giggled cutely and drew her hand back. "Gomen, Garu-kun, but I can't marry you. I promised myself that I would never be with a person I worked with, since they only see this side of me." She said, tilting her head and releasing a bomb of her cuteness all concentrated in a simply smile; just a tilt of her lips. "Besides, I wouldn't like staying home all the time while you went out on missions." She added before placing another dango in her mouth.

"Stop talking about such weird things. No one would ever want to marry you, Garu-kun." Itachi muttered meanly. He didn't mean to be mean; he was just a blunt person of nature. He jabbed at the dango with his chopsticks, but didn't pick one up or even consider it. Ninja didn't eat sweet things like that. His father would never forgive him.

Tsumori noticed that Itachi wasn't touching his food, so she reached over and poked his forehead, leaving a small, red mark there. He glared at her. "Aren't you going to eat. It's not that bad. I have plenty of cooking experience." She said, smiling cutely but with a tad of hurt in her eyes.

Itachi shook his head and sighed. "That's not it, Mori-chan. I trust your cooking skills perfectly well. It's just... I've never eaten sweets like this before. My father doesn't allow it. Ninja don't eat sweets." He said, furrowing his brows again.

Tsumori poked his forehead once more. "You should stop doing that or they'll stick." She said, referring to the wrinkles on his forehead when he furrowed his brows. She reached out to snatched a dango from his plate and held it up in front of his mouth. "And there's lots of stuff ninja aren't supposed to do, but ninja are still human, even if they are ninja. I know you don't understand, but you will. Now open up!" She said.

Itachi opened his mouth a little, allowing Tsumori to place the small, brown ball inside his mouth. He chewed on it a little and his eyes widened while he began shoveling his remaining dango into his mouth. "These are delicious!" He exclaimed and for the first time ever since he could remember he grinned. His smile stretched nearly from one ear to another and he even had his eyes closed. It was a genuine, happy smile.

Tsumori blushed darkly. She was used to being with Itachi and Garuken every day, but she had never seen either of them as happy as they seemed right now. So her food made them happy? She wanted that. She didn't want them to be so unhappy all the time, even if she was too, on the inside. She wanted to see them smile like that all the time.

"Ne, Mori-chan. Can I have seconds?" Metsuki asked, holding out her plate and flushing pink across her cheeks at Tsumori's shocked expression. "G-Gomen nasai! I eat a lot because of my Kekkai Genkai, and so does Ichi-chan!" She added, bowing her head several times.

"Iie, it's fine." Tsumori said, smiling softly as she rose from her seat in order to bring more food to the table. "I like cooking, so I cooked a lot. And it's great that you actually eat so much when you feel hungry. It's really great." She said, placing a plate with plenty of dango for both seconds and thirds for everyone on the middle of the table before she sat back down.

Itachi bowed his head to the Kimura mother, showing his utmost respects. They had managed to get the kids to sleep and it was now ten in the evening. Their next day started at five, so they wouldn't get enough sleep tonight. Tsumori and Garuken followed his example. Bowing their heads as well. "It was a privilege to take care of your children today, Kimura-san." Itachi said with respect in his voice.

"Please, I know they've probably been acting horrible and you must be tired! I should have been back hours ago!" The mother exclaimed, ruffling through her bag to find the money she needed to pay them. She looked like a completely other person. She looked much more rested and her skin had a certain shine to it. "Here you go." She said, handing each a considerate amount of money more than they had been promised.

Garuken stuffed his into his pouch immediately and Tsumori didn't hesitate to place hers inside of her kimono. Itachi, however, held up his hand in a dismissive way. "I couldn't possibly accept that much money, Kimura-san." He said, taking only half of the money offered to him. He reached his other hand out and dislodged the kunai he had stuck in the wall earlier when he had tried to keep the children from fighting.

"That was really noble of you, Itachi-kun!" Tsumori said with awe in her voice as they walked down the path to the Uchiha compound; the Kitchi family lived a little further down the road and Garuken was going to stay there since his parents hated it when he had to get up early.

Itachi only shrugged his shoulders. "I pretty much ruined their yard. It was the least I could do." He said, thinking of the many kunai and shuriken holes in the trees and walls out back as well as the very burned swing-set. He reminded himself not to use fire jutsu at small places.


	5. Control Issues

Itachi was walking toward the training ground once again. It wasn't even five in the morning yet, so it was still dark out. He moved through the darkness like a shadow. His steps made no sound, his breathing was completely silent and the weapons on his person didn't clatter once bit. This was his own personal training. He wanted to be quiet so he could sneak around like Garuken always did, despite the fact that the older male never seemed to care much.

"Ohayo, Itachi-kun." Garuken said softly, suddenly appearing next to Itachi. How long had he been there? Did he have to do that every morning? He was walking with his hands in his pockets, but Itachi couldn't see the look on his face. He guessed he was tired. After all, they had only gotten about six hours of sleep, tops.

"Ohayo, Itachi-kun." Tsumori spoke happily, but lowly, from Itachi's other side. Now Tsumori did it too? He was going to die from a heart attack before he died on a mission. People had to stop sneaking up at him all the time, or he was seriously going to injure people. "How did you sleep last night?" Tsumori asked cutely.

"I couldn't sleep." Itachi replied truthfully. He knew it was impossible to lie to Tsumori, even when she couldn't see his face in the dark. She always knew, somehow. And she always expected the truth, even if the truth was worse than a lie. "Sasuke-chan was having a bad dream. I could hear him whimper all the way in my room. Kaachan said I have to stop taking care of him so much, that it's her job, but how could I when I can hear him cry?" He said, sighing deeply.

Tsumori patted Itachi's shoulder and so did Garuken. "I understand, man. I mean, I don't have any siblings, but I guess I sorta feel the same way 'bout Mori-chan and you. I'm the oldest in the squad, so I feel like I have to protect you guys. You probably feel the same way 'bout your little bro." Garuken said thoughtfully. Itachi only nodded as they reached the training ground, where Runeji was already waiting.

"Ohayo, minna-san!" Runeji said happily. He looked well rested and happy. It was clearly visible from the light in the little lamp he was holding. "You three look like shit!" He added with a smirk on his face. They all turned to look at each other.

Itachi just looked plain out tired. The odd lines under his eyes were nearly hidden by the blue line caused by too little sleep as well as the bag that was forming. His hair wasn't quite as flat as it usually was and it seemed like he just hadn't bothered to brush it, and had only flattened it with his hands. And his irises had a red tint to them.

Tsumori looked like her usual self, aside from the fact that her long braid was slightly more slobby than usual and had a few hairs sticking out and that her normal rosy tint to her cheeks was gone as well as that happy spark in the depth of her eyes.

Garuken looked like himself. He had slight bags under his eyes and looked rather pale. His hair was ruffled and un-brushed and his headband was tied lazily around his forehead. His pose was relaxed and not bothered by anything. He looked exactly like himself.

Runeji slapped his hands together and smiled at them. "Anyways, I have some training for you today! We wont be doing a mission, since the three of you did so well yesterday. But today we will be doing a sparring round first and then I'll tell you. 'Kay?" He said, sounding a little too excited for the Genin's tastes.

"Whatever..." Itachi said, placing a hand on his hip and pinching the bridge of his nose. "It'll be good for me to get my blood pumping." He added as he stepped forward, a slight scowl on his face. He wasn't a morning person. He had never been and never would be. He wasn't a pleasant person in the morning. Many people had learned that the hard way.

"Aah, but Itachi-kun, I haven't told you the rules yet. You have to use these." Runeji said, drawing thee katana out from behind his back. All three Genin stared for a moment. So that was why he had seemed so happy a moment ago.

Tsumori stepped out and grabbed one of the swords, weighing it in her hand. "Rune-sensei, this is dangerous. None of us has any experience in Kenjutsu. We could seriously harm each other without even wanting to." Itachi said, furrowing his brows deeply.

"Oh?" Runeji asked, pointing his thumb at Tsumori. She was pratically dancing around while she moved the sword skilfully in a way that appeared to be very effective when facing several opponents that had you surrounded. "You don't know about the Kitchi clan's Yun?" He asked, handing each of the boys a sword of their own. Both shook their heads. "It's a katana that they pass down from generation to generation whenever someone become Jounin. It's said that the wielder of the sword will have immense good luck and it is said that any person who has killed while holding this sword is granted a miracle." He said, speaking lowly as if he didn't want Tsumori to hear.

"That's not all. It belonged to the founder of our clan. It has great sentimental value. And it's so thin it can cut through stone." Tsumori said, twirling on her toes before making an elegant stabbing motion in the air. She smiled cutely as she twirled the sword in her hand a few times with simple movements of her wrist before swinging it up so it was resting on her shoulder, but without cutting herself. "Who'll fight me first?" She asked happily.

Garuken stepped out with a grin on his face. "I'll fight you first!" He said loudly to Tsumori, holding his sword out in front of him in a way he had seen many Kenjutsu users do. "Itachi-kun, you better watch and learn so you can whip her ass." He added in a low voice, barely above a whisper. Then he rushed forward, blade raised.

Garuken was rather slow, compared to Tsumori. He was bigger as well. His movements were too large compared to Tsumori's. She kept slashing at only his clothes, letting him know that she would be able to injure him severely if she wanted to. Garuken kept trying to go for her torso instead of her arms, Itachi noted. Tsumori was quick, observant and skilled with a sword. She had every upper hand in a fight like this.

But Itachi was observant too. He noticed her movements from the way she held her hands on the sword to the way she kept her feet on the ground. He noticed every little movement her eyes made and every little detail of her expression. He noticed everything, so he could use it again. He didn't have his Sharingan yet, but he knew he would one day, so he had trained at noticing things like that, so he could use it along with the new power he knew he would gain.

Garuken screamed out in white hot pain as Tsumori got tired of playing around. With one quick slash of her sword, she allowed her opponent to fall to the ground. She had cut a neat cut at his abdomen, leaving blood to gush out and possibly a rather nasty scar, but she didn't seem to care. She had gotten heated now. She wanted to show off her real skill. She was tired of standing in the background while Itachi and Garuken acted all tough and cool.

She rushed forward at Itachi, raising her sword and swinging down at him. She only aimed for his shoulder, seeing as she wanted to give him a light start. He barely managed to block the blow and was taken off guard as she shifted her position by simply twisting on one foot in order to regain her balance and force after already haven stroked. Her blade hit his side painfully, leaving a trail of blood to fly through the air.

Her expression was cold and calculating, but she hadn't expected it when Itachi merely ignored the cut and skidded back in order to gain an overlook of his opponent. They had already found out that her speed was superior to his, even if it was just a little. Her agility was batter as well, seeing as she was female and therefore had more flexible joints. They rushed at each other.

Once again, their fight became nothing but the sounds of blades clashing and a blur of black, green and pink. But this time these things were accompanied by a red mist of blood spewing from the blurs every once in a while and the stench of this blood filling the air. Eventually there was the sound of a crack. There was a cloud of blood and there was a body falling to the ground.

Tsumori threw her sword to the side, running to Itachi's side. The gash in his chest was big enough to kill him. She had gotten carried away. Tears burned in her eyes as she threw herself on her knees next to his bleeding body. There wasn't a single scratch on her. Not even her kimono had been torn. There were splodges of blood from Itachi's wounds, but none of it was her own.

"Itachi-kun!" She exclaimed, pressing both of her small hands into the cut as she tried to stop the flow of blood. It didn't help. Her hands got covered in the crimson liquds. "Rune-sensei!" She exclaimed loudly, looking at her sensei and other teammate. Garuken laid unconsious on the ground, but Runeji only watched her as she tried to save her precious teammate. He had a cold, evil look in his eyes. That amused glint that appeared every once in a while.

"'TACHI!" Came the shrill scream of a young boy. Sasuke came running to his brother's side, quickly followed by his mother. "ONIISAN! ONIISAN!" Sasuke screamed, shaking his brother's body with his incredibly small hands. His tearful, obsidian eyes met with the even more tearful and puffy, forest green ones of Tsumori. His eyes held hate and anger for that second.

Mikoto rushed in between the children, scooping her eldest son up from the ground in a swift motion. "Take care of Sasuke." She said in a voice that could have made water freeze. Tsumori indeed felt like her blood had just been frozen. She wrapped her arms around Sasuke's chest and help him back as he tried to follow after his mother, who disappeared from sight within less than a second.

Tsumori turned to Runeji, her eyes filled with anger and not looking cute at all. "Why didn't you help? He could die, you know! He might die!" She screamed angrily, her face holding nothing but pure intention to kill. Sasuke tried getting out of her hold, now crying because he was scared for both his own and his brother's life.

Runeji stepped forward, drawing out the sword that had stuck in the ground when Tsumori threw it aside. He held it out in front of him. "Do you see this blood, Mori-chan? This is the blood of Itachi. This is the blood you made him bleed. Your own teammate. You made him bleed." He said in a cold, emotionless voice. He stuck the sword back in the ground right in front of Tsumori; in the spot on the ground that had been died crimson by the blood that had spilled from Itachi while he was on the ground.

Tsumori stared at the blood-soaked blade. "I didn't mean to..." She spoke softly. Her voice held no more anger. It held no hurt or sadness. No regret or guilt. It was just a voice. Just random words spoken casually. But in this order and situation, they meant a billion things. "Gomen, sensei... I failed you... again..." She whispered softly. She didn't even realize that Sasuke had broken out from her hold.

Runeji crouched down so he was in eye level with Tsumori. "Mori-chan... Accept it." He said seriously, placing a hand on her shoulder. "If you don't accept it and acknowledge it, it'll only get worse. You'll keep hurting the people you care for. How are you going to protect anyone if you can't even control yourself?" He said, shaking her shoulder slightly.

"BUT I DON'T WANT TO KILL!" Tsumori screamed, pushing Runeji back. He flew several feet back, skidding gracefully on his feet without falling, even from such a hard push to his shoulders. Tsumori covered her face with her hands as she tried to hide the tears. She didn't realize she was smudging Itachi's blood all over her face.

It was a morbid sight. A small girl of merely six years, sitting in a puddle of blood, smudged in blood and stained in blood. Such a cute face and body, yet such a horrible expression. Indeed it was morbid. It was horrible and disgusting. And it left a smile lingering on Runeji's lips. He wasn't a sadist. He just liked morbid things like that. He liked seeing people in despair. He couldn't help it.

Itachi opened his eyes slowly. His body felt like it was on fire. His chest hurt like hell. He couldn't breathe properly. He looked around. Sasuke was laying beside him. He wasn't at home, from what he could see. This looked like the hospital. His mother was by the side of his bed. Tsumori was sitting in the window sill, looking up at the starry sky and the white moon. "Mori-chan..." Itachi said softly, his voice holding that certain brotherly tone he had gotten used to using.

Tsumori turned her head to look at him. Her face held her usual happy smile and she looked like she had just been waiting without worrying the slightest bit. "Ah, Itachi-kun! It took you long enough to wake up! If you can't even handle a little cut like that, you should really quit being a ninja!" She said, giggling softly.

Itachi chuckled softly, trying his best to lie still so he wouldn't wake up the sleeping Sasuke. "You know, I can tell if a person has been crying. It's the Big Brother instinct. Did you really think I was going to let you kill me?" He asked, reaching a hand out into the space beside him.

Tsumori jumped down from the window sill and went to stand beside him. He noticed the blood on her clothes. There was a lot. There were traces of blood on her face as well, but most of it had been washed away. She took his hand gently in both of hers and held it to her face, nuzzling her cheek against it. "I can't loose another teammate. If either of you die, I'll go insane." She said softly. Itachi felt wetness against his fingers. She was crying.

He chuckled again. "You can't become something you already are." He said, rubbing his thumb against her cheek to wipe the tears away like he had done so often with Sasuke. "I'll tell you what. I promise I wont die if you promise you wont cry. How does that sound to you?" He asked, smiling genuinenly.

Tsumori looked shocked for a moment, but then her happy smile returned. It was different now. It was real. It reached all the way behind that spark in the depth of her eyes. She was happy at that moment. Itachi could tell. "It's a deal!" She said happily. The both of them reached out at once and poked the other's forehead. Tsumori giggled cutely and Itachi chuckled deeply.

The next morning, Sasuke woke Itachi up by pinching his nose hard. Itachi opened his eyes and nearly shot up to a sitting position, but was held down by a pair of strong arms that belonged to Garuken. "Ohayo, Itachi-kun." Garuken and Tsumori said in unison. Tsumori was holding up three bento and Garuken was wearing hospital clothes as well.

"Ohayo, Oniisan!" Sasuke said happily, draping his arms around his older brothers neck although they were both lying down. Itachi chuckled softly and reached up to ruffle Sasuke's hair. "How did you sleep, 'Tachi?" The younger Uchiha asked, seeming very excited and happy as well as genuinely curious.

"Like a rock, as always, Sasuke-chan." Itachi replied happily, smiling that brotherly smile. He looked around him, his smile faltering as he did. "Where did Kaachan go?" He asked, his voice slightly sadder than it should have been. After all, he was still just seven years old. He had barely seen his parents, much less talked to them, since he started as a Genin. Now that he thought of it, he hadn't talked to his mother since the time he had gotten sick after falling into the river.

Garuken crossed his arms over his chest and sighed. "she went to scold Rune-sensei for just watching you while you were slowly dying. He did the same thing back when Mori-chan almost drowned, so he's really got it coming." He said, smirking at his last remark. He had seen the pure fury in the Uchiha mother's eyes.

The door barged open and Mikoto walked inside, quickly picking up Sasuke, and turning for the door. "I'm sorry, Itachi, but we have to go. I'll see you when you come home, okay?" She said before nearly running out of the room. Itachi reached out a hand to grab onto her clothes but he was too slow.

"Kaachan, wait!" He yelled out rather loudly. He knew she heard him, but she didn't came back. He just laid there stupidly with his hand out in the air and a shocked expression on his face. It only lasted for a second, then his hand fell and his face reverted back to it's usual calm state. "I guess she doesn't want Sasuke seeing me like this..." He muttered softly, closing his eyes to force back the tears that were trying to come out.


	6. You're not fine, Baka

"Itachi-kun, you shouldn't push yourself! You'll reopen your wound!" Tsumori scolded, placing her kunai back inside her kimono. It seemed random when she just stuffed a dangerous weapon inside her clothes, but she had billions of hidden weapons in there. She was a weapon specialist, after all. They all were.

Itachi was panting hard. He leaned against a tree to support himself. He was really dizzy and felt really sick. He had gotten out of the hospital two days ago after staying there for three days. His chest was still one big cut and not even the best medic in town could heal it more than it was now without damaging him more on the insides. "I'm fine!" He insisted, pushing off of the tree and coming at Tsumori again.

She sighed and merely sidestepped, tripping him to the ground by giving a small push to his back. "You're not fine. You're completely out of balance and your focus isn't even on me. I thought you'd learned not to take me lightly as an opponent." She said, cutely angry once again. She seemed to be doing that more and more.

Itachi remained on the ground, sitting on all fours, knees and palms. "I'm not weak, Mori-chan. I just need a break." He snapped angrily. He was glad she couldn't see the sweat that was dripping from his brow and the fact that blood was oozing out from his wound and covering his bandages in blood. He coughed a little, but hid it under being out of breath.

Tsumori sighed and spun on her toes, turning her back to Itachi. "Whatever you say. I'm going home, then. I have no reason to train with someone who can't even keep standing for ten minutes. I'd be better off training on my own." She said with a huff as she began to walk away.

"Mori-chan..." Itachi panted, looking up at her. She turned her head to look back at him, but her eyes widened in shock at the sight. His face was dripping with feverish sweat, his eyes were half lidded and his his shirt was drenched in blood. "I think... my wound has opened." He added before he tumbled to the ground.

Tsumori ran to his side. "Damn bastard, you promised not to die!" She hissed, picking his larger body up from the ground and carrying him like a princess. He might be bigger than her, but she was trained as a Taijutsu and weaponry expert. She was rather strong, despite her size. But her main ability was speed. She had quite much trouble carrying Itachi, even though he wasn't that much bigger than her.

She moved swiftly from roof to roof and even with her extra weight, she was still completely silent, elegant and balanced. She jumped down in front of the hospital, rushing inside with her clothes now soaked in the blood of her teammate as well as his sweat. He was alive, but he was in a bad shape. "Help!" She yelled.

Itachi's body was shifted from one set of arms to another and he felt he was moved once again. He had to stop being the one in the hospital all the time. "It seems his would has become infected and can't close properly. We need to cleanse it. He's going to be in pain, so hold him down." The voice was blurry and he couldn't recognize it.

He felt hands on his arms and legs, holding down the limbs. It's not like it mattered. He couldn't move anyways. He felt a small sting at his chest. Then it got worse. It felt like fire that had been torched to the insides of his chest. Without even realizing it, he screamed out. He began flailing and struggling to get free. He needed to put out that fire! What the hell was going on?

"Itachi-kun, relax." A voice reached to him. Who was that? He couldn't hear. "Relax." It repeated. He did. He stopped struggling and the pain seemed to melt away a little. He wasn't screaming anymore either. He felt a small hand wrap around his own and soft, humming tunes. He knew the voice, but he couldn't place a face or a person on it. It was just a voice that meant a lot to him.

"For a 'genius amongst geniuses', you sure collapse a lot." Garuken commented, sitting on the chair next to Itachi's hospital bed. He was leaning back with his hands behind his head while he stared out the window. Itachi was strapped down to the bed to keep him from moving and reopening the wound.

"Urusai, baka." Itachi muttered, turning his head away from his teammate. Garuken was the type to just speak his mind freely without considering the hurtful effects it could have, even if it was just friendly teasing. Itachi was ashamed of himself. He shouldn't have been training so hard when he was still so weak. He was being a burden.

Garuken stretched his arms for a moment, only to place them back behind his head. "Whatever. You know, for a moment there I really thought you were going to croak. You were screaming like you had looked death in the eye." He said, turning his head slightly so he could observe Itachi from the corner of his eye.

"Aah..." Itachi muttered, closing his eyes. He had been dying. He was sure of it. But that voice, which had turned out to be Tsumori, had brought him back to reality. "But you know, pain is just a proof that we're still alive. As long as it hurts, out soul is still attached to the body." He said, not opening his eyes.

Garuken removed his hands in order to cross them over his chest and yawn. "Does it hurt?" He asked stupidly. Of course it would hurt. His chest was wide open. It was a miracle that none of his vital organs had ruptured, even if his one lung had taken a lit of damage.

"What do you mean? Of course it hurts!" Itachi snapped, huffing before turning his head away. After all, that was all he could move. He glanced back and saw the deep look in Garuken's eyes. He didn't mean physically. "I does..." Itachi said, his voice falling lower than it regularly was. "It hurts, knowing that I'm not as much of a genius as I thought." He admitted lowly, closing his eyes once again.

Garuken chuckled deeply. "Don't sweat it, Chi-kun. We all feel that way around Mori-chan. Even Rune-sensei sometimes feel a little overwhelmed around her." He said, patting Itachi's head. He chuckled some more at the angry expression that earned him. "I like it when you can't move. You can't hit me!" He said, reaching down to touch his cheek, rubbing his thumb along the cheekbone.

He bent his head down, his lips hovering right over Itachi's. "W-What are you doing, teme?" Itachi exclaimed. He tried moving his head, but found that Garuken had strapped it down with a strap across his forehead. He was completely unable to move.

His breath fanned against Itachi's lips. "You look so much like a girl." He breathed. He leaned down a little bit further. His lips touched Itachi's ever so gently, and he was sent flying through the room and out the window, screaming all the while as Tsumori placed her foot back down on the ground.

She was huffing with anger, but was still cute-looking. "Garu-kun no baka! Don't do stuff like that! Itachi-kun isn't a girl!" She yelled, throwing something out the window. There was a very high-pitched yelp in reply. "Bulls eye." Tsumori said softly, giggling cutely. She removed the strap around Itachi's forehead, and took the seat Garuken had been in before.

"Arigatou, Mori-chan." Itachi said, smiling softly at her. "If Mori-chan hadn't shown up, who knows what Garu-kun had done to me." He added, a sweat-drop forming on the side of his head. He wanted to reach up and furiously rub his lips, but being strapped down, he couldn't. He silently cursed the Uchiha clan for producing such good looking men.

Tsumori giggled a little, clutching the bento she had brought for him in her lap. "A-Aah! I guess I guy like you doesn't like being kissed, right?" She said, tilting her head to the side and smiling brightly as if she just wanted him to laugh. He knew that expression. She was trying to make him smile, again.

Itachi nodded his head a little. "I wouldn't mind being kissed by someone else. Just Garu-kun is a guy like me, and he's so weird all the time." He stated, shaking his head and sighing. He forced a smile to his face and chuckled a little. "But if he wasn't like that, he wouldn't be Garu-kun." He added.

"Right!" Tsumori said happily, giggling a little. There was a moment of pause. "I've brought you dango, but I see you can't really eat them..." She said sounding a little down over it. She liked cooking for Itachi. He always told her how delicious it was and smiled in that way that made her feel all happy inside.

"You could feed them to me." Itachi suggested, smiling softly at her. "Since Mori-chan's dango are the best, even if I was on the verge of dying, I's somehow manage to eat them." He added in a happy tune. Itachi rarely sounded happy, just casual, so seeing him happy always made Tsumori happy and he knew that.

Tsumori's face turned red a tomato and she just sat there, staring at his smile for a while. "F-F-Feeding I-I-Itachi-k-kun?" She exclaimed loudly, stumbling away so she knocked the chair over and nearly dropped the bento. The look on her face was of sheer shock, and the redness faded away quickly, leaving her pale.

The door was slid open carefully and one of the nurses, a very young one, stepped in. "Ano, Uchiha-san." She said, blushing furiously and looking at her hands while twisting her fingers together. "T-There are a lot of gifts for you in the lobby. T-The doctor told me to ask you if y-you might want any of it? From any specific person?" She asked, looking up a little.

Itachi allowed her gaze to meet his before his soft smile returned to his face. "Iie. Those gifts are just from my admirers. They mean nothing to me." He said, his obsidian eyes glittering in the light from the lamp above and his soft smile still in place.

"H-Hai, U-U-Uchiha-sama!" The nurse exclaimed, her blush spreading even more before she staggered out of the room with her heart throbbing. This boy was merely seven years old, and already he had such a great attraction power.

"You really have potential, Itachi-kun." Runeji said, suddenly just jumping in through the window, holding a heart-shaped box with chocolates in his hands. "Women all around you, showering you with affection and gifts." He added, picking one of the chocolates out of the box and placing it in his mouth.

"Urusai." Itachi replied bluntly in a deadpan tone, causing his sensei to anime fall. "I told you already, I'm not going to become your womanizer apprentice." He added, not changing his tone. His face remained in it's bored cow expression, waiting for Runeji's reply. He always had one.

Runeji rose from the floor with a seductive and flirtatious look on his face. "But Itachi-kun! A woman is like a bouquet of flowers! They're beautiful and smell nice, and the moment you see them, you want nothing more than to have them! But after a few days, they wither and change and those feelings of want will be gone!" He exclaimed, slowly placing another chocolate in his mouth while smirking suggestively.

"You're disgusting." Itachi replied with a sneer. "A woman is not like a bouquet, but like a plant. They need to be taken care of and given attention every day. They need you to love them and talk to them and show them that you care. The more attention you give them, the more beautiful and desirable they get." He said, his bored cow expression returning.

Runeji sighed and rubbed his head. "Dammit, kid. Why do you always counter my reasoning so easily?" He asked with a sigh, his former attitude suddenly gone as he sat down on the edge of the bed, shoving one of the chocolates into Itachi's mouth. "Here. I brought this 'cause Garu-kun told me that you like sweets. Some girl handed it to me, begging me to take it to Itachi-kun." He explained.

Tsumori sat back down after having put the chair back up and placed the bento on the bed stand table. "I'll have to go now. Please feed him my dango, if he isn't full from the chocolates, okay?" She said cutely, bowing her head to the both of them before she left. As soon as she closed the door behind her, she let out a sigh and wiped away a tear from her eye.

Garuken came back in through the window, brushing some dirt off of his clothes and placing another bento on top of the other. "Her bento are surprisingly heavy when they hit you in the groin from a sixty feet height." He said, rubbing the back of his neck and looking rather blue-skinned.

"I never thought I'd see, hear or smell anything to Mori-chan's cooking after Mizu-kun's death." Runeji said, opening the bento that Garuken had brought back up. He opened it and found that there was sushi of different kinds. "Hmm... She made you all your favorites, Garu-kun." He said, showing the open box to Garuken.

"Aah." Garuken replied, picking up the other box. "And she made Itachi sweet dango." He added before even opening the box. He did open it, and show the content, which he had guessed right, to Runeji. "She made it when we were babysitting and once she found out Itachi liked it, she've made it for him at every given occasion." He said with a grin.

Itachi narrowed his eyes at Runeji, completely ignoring their comments about the bento. "Who was Mizu-kun?" He asked seriously. He could already guess that it was the person that had been the third party of their team before he joined, but he wanted it confirmed.

"Kitchi Mizuumi, the former third part of this Genin squad and the older brother of Kitchi Tsumori." Runeji said seriously, putting the food away. He disliked having to be serious, but it was necessary at times like this. "He died about three months ago." He added, averting his eyes to the ground for the first time Itachi ever saw.

"S-she lost her brother...?" Itachi asked, mortified. His expression showed a clear display of a mix between horror and shock. "How can she be like that when she lost her brother so recently?" He added angrily, straining against the straps that held him down.

Garuken placed a hand on Itachi's chest, pushing down hard. Itachi screamed out in pain. "Stop struggling!" The elder of the two demanded. Itachi kept still. "Mori-chan doesn't like being sad or seeing others sad. She pushes pain away and pretend that all is fine, no matter what. But she obviously took a shine to you. You're acting like a brother to her, and she needs that. So if you die or something, I'm going to use forbidden techniques to bring you back, just to kill you again!" he sneered seriously with a tight hold of Itachi's shirt.

Itachi huffed and furrowed his brows. "I can't die. I promised Mori-chan that I wouldn't, if she wouldn't cry." He said seriously, just staring up at Garuken. There was nothing else he could do, while he was strapped down like this.

Garuken let go of his shirt and walked back to the window. "If you die... I'll bring you back and kill you. I mean it." He said, his back still toward Itachi as he jumped out of the window and down onto the streets, calmly and elegantly landing on the ground and beginning his walk home.

"Ne, Itachi-kun, get better soon, right? We're going to need you to get well before we can go out on missions again." Runeji said with a smile, giving a small wave before he followed Garuken out the window and onto the street.


	7. Walking Database

Itachi, Tsumori, Garuken and Runeji all stood in front of the Hokage. Itachi had his head bowed out of courtesy, but everyone else seemed uncaring about the fact that the man before them was the leader and protector of their village. The Hokage was smiling gently as he was most of the time. "Long time no see, Hiruzen-san." Runeji spoke grinning at his elder and superior.

"Aah, indeed, Runeji-kun." The Hokage replied with a curt nod. "However, I did not call you here just for a reunion. I have been informed by one of my former ANBU that you have been both careless and directly dangerous toward your students, without the purpose of training?" He inquired, glancing at Itachi, who still had his chest half open.

Runeji waved a hand dismissively. "I can assure you that I have done no such thing, Hiruzen-san. Everything I have done has had strictly training purposes. I admit that I brought Itachi-kun an danger, but ti was all to teach Mori-chan about control." He stated as a matter of fact, sounding like it was a completely casual thing to say.

"Runeji-kun, please refer to me as Hokage-sama. I already told you this was not a reunion." The Hokage replied with a slight anger to his voice. "Uchiha-san, please step out and take off your shirt." He added, shifting his gaze to Itachi.

"Iie, Hokage-sama. I am healing quite well and this wound is nothing much of a trouble. I brought this on myself. It has nothing to do with Rune-sensei." Itachi said seriously. This was his new family. Without his team, he would become nothing more than the Uchiha heir again. He would go back to being Itachi the ninja, and stop being Itachi the person. He couldn't lose Runeji as his sensei.

The Hokage quirked a brow at the young Uchiha. "Uchiha-san, are you aware that this information came from your mother, Uchiha Mikoto?" He asked seriously. His gaze met with Itachi's obsidian eyes. Itachi was blank as a paper. There was nothing to see in those eyes.

"Hai, Hokage-sama. My mother has at several occasions told and showed her dislike towards my sensei, but I assure that whatever it is has nothing to do with me or my training. She was furious even the first day, when I merely told her the name of him." Itachi said seriously, keeping a professional face on and staring the Hokage straight in the eye as he spoke.

There was a moment of silence while the old Hokage and the young Uchiha just stared at each other, before the Hokage smiled and nodded his head. "Very well then. I have no further business with you." The Hokage said, waving a hand dismissively.

Once outside, Runeji let out a sigh of relief. "Damn kid, I didn't know you had it in you to stare down the Hokage himself! I mean, sure you Uchiha brats have hella scary eyes, but still!" He exclaimed, placing a hand on top of Itachi's head and ruffling his mass of flat, black hair till it stood out in spikes.

Itachi scowled and huffed. "Our eyes aren't scary. It's just human nature to fear what you don't understand." He stated, making a gesture toward his face and then dropping his hands. "Besides, I am yet to acquire the eyes of an Uchiha." He added with slight sadness to his voice.

Runeji's hand dropped on top of Itachi's head again, ruffling up his hair some more. "I didn't mean the Sharingan, Itachi-kun. I just meant the fact that your irises are black and that it's impossible to detect any kind of emotion in your eyes." He said, removing his hand from his head once he had finished speaking, in order to poke Itachi's forehead like he had done so often before. "And stop talking like you're fifty. You're still a damn kid, so act like it." He added in a more cheery voice.

"Urusai." Itachi replied, pushing Runeji's hand away, and immediately regretting the sudden movement of his arm. It hurt like hell when he moved his shoulders because it pulled on the muscles that led to his chest. He was always afraid his would was going to spring open yet again. He grunted and moved his hand to his chest, clutching the fabric of his shirt.

Tsumori kicked Runeji rather hard on his shin, causing his leg to disappear from under him and at the sudden loss of balance, he tumbled to the ground. "Stop teasing him! He needs to rest, and you know he has a short fuse!" She scolded the Jounin. She had her hands on her hips and that cutely angry look on her face.

"It's fine, Mori-chan. Even like this, I can still handle anything Runeji can come up with." Itachi said, placing a hand on his female teammate's small shoulder. Her tried not to wince with the movement and just focused on keeping his brotherly smile in place. His smile was returned by Tsumori.

"Oh?" Runeji asked, that sadist amused tint returning to his eyes. It was an indicator that he was planning something horrible, and most like dangerous. "You still haven't crossed the river?" He suggested, pulling a rope out from his vest. How he had room for it in there failed to grasp Itachi's attention.

Itachi furrowed his brows and frowned. "I'm not risking Mori-chan and Garu-kun's lives just because you like to tease and test me all the time." He stated angrily, disgusted that he would even suggest that. Runeji knew that Itachi was a very protective person of nature, so he knew he was going to refuse. What was the point in even suggesting it.

"L-Let's just forget that, ne?" Tsumori interrupted happily, clasping her hands together. "I-Itachi-kun, I don't r-remember you ever telling us why you wanted to be a ninja? And don't say it's because it's your legacy, or I swear I'll smack you." She said happily, giggling at her last sentence.

Itachi eased up and let out a relaxing breath. "I wanted to be a ninja to make the world a better place for Sasuke to grow up. I want him to have a normal life and I don't want him to ever face the dangers of a ninja." He said, the brotherly smile returning to his face by force.

Tsumori looked dumbstruck for a moment, and then her face broke into the brightest smile any of them had yet seen on her face. "That's so sweet!" She exclaimed happily, clapping her hands in front of her repeatedly while she jumped up and down. Sometimes it was hard to think of her as the elite ninja she truly was. And at others, it was hard to see her as the child she truly was as well.

Garuken grunted. "It's gay." He said bluntly, crossing his arms over his chest. He was looking the other way. Itachi sometimes got the feeling that Garuken felt left out. After all, he had used to be on a team with Tsumori and her older brother, so he had always been the outsider then. Then, when her brother had died, he had taken over that position for some time, but, being an only child, it was a hard task for him. Then Itachi had come along, and he had the natural talent for being an older brother, and Tsumori had quickly latched on to him instead.

Itachi snorted and crossed his arms as well. "Says the guy who tried to _kiss_ me and who wears _that_." He defended, but made the rather stupid, and gay looking, move of placing a hand on his hip and pointing at Garuken, moving his hand up and down to indicate to his attire.

Garuken burst out laughing, gripping his sides as he tried not to. He was sent to the ground by a hard kick to the back of his head, delivered by the small, but powerful, leg of Tsumori. "Since I'm the one who injured you, Itachi-kun, as long as you're damaged, I'll be your muscles. Okay?" She asked sweetly, reaching out arm up to from a crook and placing her hand on the biceps.

It looked so sweet Itachi felt like vomiting again. He hadn't felt like that in a while, but he managed to keep it down. "Sure." He agreed, nodding his head curtly as if he had just agreed to a mission. There was still a certain amount of brotherly love in his eyes and his lips were quirked up ever so slightly. Few would notice.

Garuken sat up on his rear on the ground, rubbing his bleeding head. "Mori-chan, you're dangerous." He whimpered. He got a dead pan look from the three others and Itachi pointed to his own chest with his thumb. "Oh, right." Garuken said, rubbing his head sheepishly.

Runeji sighed as he pulled out one of his rare cigarettes. The Jounin smoked, but only after a mission or when he had been stressed out more than his lazy and laid back mind would allow him to be. "You're all crazy." He stated bluntly. He got the same dead pan look from the three Genin as Garuken had gotten a moment ago. "Oh, right." He replied, rubbing his head in a way that was much to similar to how Garuken had done.

The three of them laughed happily, while Itachi settled for a controlled chuckle. Garuken placed his arm around Itachi's smaller shoulders; Garuken had much broader shoulders than the young Uchiha. "Dude, we've gotta get you some new clothes. That stuff you wear has no personality." He said, tugging on the sleeve of Itachi's shirt.

Itachi pushed Garuken away, his face suddenly taken over by anger. "These clothes are the official Uchiha uniform! They are all the personality my cloths _need_ to have!" He snapped angrily, clenching both fists at his sides. Tsumori raised a hand next to him, silently asking if she should punch Garuken. Itachi shook his head. "I'm sure none of you understands, but my clan is my identity. All I am and ever has been, is the heir and prodigy of the Uchiha clan. Without that... I'm just Itachi." He said, his voice trailing off slightly as he looked at the ground.

Tsumori raised one of her small index fingers. "Ano, I know what you mean. One must wear the name of their clan proudly, never once disregarding its pride. The Uchiha clan is a very proud clan and they bear their family crest with great honor. The thing most important to them are their duty and most of them live their entire lives as nothing but ninja, using the gift given to them by their bloodline." She said, her eyes closed the entire time as if she was reading from the inside of her eyelids.

Garuken placed one of his hands on her head and gave her a dead pan look. "You think the Bakuoni clan is just a brunch of lowlife slackers?" He asked, jutting his thumb at his chest. "We're a damn proud clan, even if I'm the only one to become a ninja for seven generations." He added with a snort. He was proud of his name. It was a damn good name.

"_Baku Oni._" Tsumori helpfully separated the words in the name, giving the name the intended meaning. "The Bakuoni clan is quite known for their Geisha House, which explains why Garu-kun is so weird. He's used to be around beautiful women and he's never had a male figure who didn't treat women as objects." She stated, once again sounding like she was reading a text. She gave a pointed glare in Runeji's direction, but still failed to stop looking cute.

"Jeez, Mori-chan, you're like a freaking walking database." Garuken commented rudely, placing a hand on his hip as he spoke. That was a pose he rarely used. He mostly either had his arms crossed over his chest, tucked behind his head or his hands stuffed as deeply as possible into his pockets. "You're not even supposed to remember all that. It's against the law, you know." He added sourly.

Tsumori beamed him a bright smile and placed her hands behind her back gingerly. "I can't help that I remember everything I read." She stated in a cutely innocent tone. Itachi had already learned that Tsumori had photographic memory and that she had trained it so much that she could remember anything in detail. She could even describe a person down to every root of hair visible on their head. She was amazing. And she always left Itachi feeling weak.

"Mori-chan, stop acting like that. We all know you wouldn't have remembered if you hadn't wanted to." Itachi said in an annoyed tone; the tone he always used with Sasuke when he was displeased about something the younger Uchiha had done. He reached a hand over and placed it on top of Tsumori's head, petting her hair softly. "Arigatou, for remembering." He added, not looking at her as he said it, but removing his hand afterward.

Tsumori blushed cutely; only a slight pink tinge spreading over her cheekbones and across the bridge of her nose. It looked absolutely adorable, and Itachi knew it, so he didn't look. He knew he would blush, too. He always did when seeing Sasuke's flushed face. He had always had a hard time handling cute. "D-Don't mention it." Tsumori replied in a voice that sounded way too meek for her usually bubbly personality.

Garuken placed a hand on each of their heads, turning both of their heads so they were facing him. "You guys oughta stop acting like that. You're teammates, for crying out loud." He said, slight anger to his usually calm, bored and lazy tone. What had caused him to get this upset. "Jeez! What is it with beautiful people and their damn pride?" He added in a mutter, removing his hands from their heads in order to move away from his team.

Runeji nodded his head in agreement. "It's nice that the two of you get along so well, but Itachi isn't Mizuumi and Tsumori isn't Sasuke. You're not actually siblings and you're not supposed to feel that close to each other. It'll become a problem during missions." He stated, throwing the bud that was left of his cigarette on the ground and stopping on it. He gave Tsumori a pointed look before he, too, began walking away.

Tsumori rubbed her arms as she looked at Itachi, giving him her usual cheery smile. "Mizuumi was the former third member of our team, my Oniisan." She explained, since she didn't know he was already aware. "He died about four months ago, trying to protect me. I wasn't paying attention to my back, so one of our opponents used a fire jutsu to try and bring me, the best close range fighter, down. Mizu-nii stepped in and took the damage, and didn't survive." She said, still smiling brightly even though she was saying something so sad.

"I see." Itachi said, sorting the whole deal out in his mind. "I guess that would mean that you have a problem with fire users?" He added after a moment of thought. He really didn't hope so. After all, all Uchiha were fire users, whether they had affinity for it or not. It was part of being Uchiha to learn at least one fire technique before they became Genin. Itachi knew three.

Tsumori nodded her head a little, her bright smile still in place. "I don't really like fire, but it's a very destructive element. It's good that you can use it." She said as if she had read his mind. She hadn't. She had just done her homework on the Uchiha clan. She knew more about them that Itachi did, he guessed.

Itachi fell back in thought. His mind quickly counted up the number of reasons for his team to hate him and the number of reasons that he fit in. In the end, he decided that he fit in quite well, aside from the fact that he had far less experience on the field of being a ninja than they did. He was merely an obstacle to them. He was the reason they had to start doing baby missions again, after having done missions that clearly had put their lives on the line. They must have gotten bored with it by now.

Tsumori's small index finger came in contact with Itachi's forehead, and he shifted his gaze to her brightly smiling face. "You're too gloomy, Chi-kun!" She said in a slightly scolding tone, although it had very little affect when she used it along with one of those brilliant smiles of hers.

"I'm not gloomy. I'm thoughtful." Itachi replied with furrowed brows, crossing his arms over his chest and immediately regretting the move. It hurt. A lot. Her uncurled his arms and let them hang limply by his sides instead. "And I told you not to call me that. My name is Itachi not Chi." He said annoyed.

Tsumori placed her hands behind her back again and winked at him. "Chi-kun sounds better." She said cutely, waving her hand at the young Uchiha genius as she skipped away, parting with him as he had to turn into the Uchiha compound, and she had to continue down the path.

Itachi let out a soft sigh as he walked down the pat towards his house, greeting several other Uchiha on the way. He slid the door to his home open and smiled and hugged Sasuke as he came running at him, trying his best not to seem in too much pain. "Kaachan, I need a word with you." he said seriously as his mother stepped into the hallway, an expecting look on her face.


	8. Geisha

"And what the hell made you think that it would be okay for you to nearly get me kicked off my Genin team just because_ you don't like the guy_?" Itachi yelled angrily at his mother, who was defending herself the best she could against her oldest son's burning rage. He had confronted her about the deal with Runeji, and she had told him that she just didn't like the guy.

Mikoto had to sidestep as Itachi launched a shuriken at her. She was frightened with the precision and force of the weapon as it cracked through the wall. She had had no idea just how tough her son was; and this was while he was injured that badly. "I was doing it for you, Itachi-kun! That man is no good! He already lost one Genin!" She reasoned, her voice not as rage-filled and loud as Itachi's, but she did raise it and her tone was a little annoyed.

"So what?" Itachi screamed, picking up a random object from the table beside him, he got a plate, and throwing it at his mother. She stepped away from the impact and it shattered against the wall. "It wasn't his fault! You have no idea what that team has been through!" He added, running forth to actually lunge at his mother. He sent a punch for her face.

Mikoto moved her head sideways and then jump-rolled away. "Itachi, please calm down and listen to me!" She exclaimed as he came lunging at her again. She caught both of his fists, but he just used the momentum to raise his feet from the floor and kick her harshly in the stomach. "The man is the devil!" She added, rolling to the side to avoid a high kick from the young Genin.

Itachi rose his leg once more, finding that it hurt him much less to kick than it did to punch, and kicked for his mother's side. She avoided it neatly, and he ended up tumbling onto the floor as a surge of pain shot through his body and he had to clutch at his chest. He suddenly felt like he couldn't breathe.

Mikoto ran to her son's side. It didn't matter that he had furiously tried to hurt her the second before. Her son was in pain and she wanted him to feel better. "Itachi, relax. Deep breaths. I know it hurts, but you have to breathe." She spoke softly, forcing the boy to straighten his back and drawing circular motions on his shoulder blades.

Itachi hissed in pain again, nearly crumbling together once more. He had tried taking a deep breath, but it seemed that the mere action of a simple breath caused him pain. "What's going on here? Get up from the ground." Came the authoritative and deep voice that Itachi at any moment could identify as his father.

Itachi stumbled up, one hand still clutching his chest painfully as he looked up at his father. "Okaeri, T-Tousama." He said, his voice slightly strained by the amount of pain he was in. He looked up at his father, staring straight into his obsidian eyes. Runeji had been right about their eyes. They were all the same, and they were all clear of emotion.

Fugaku, Itachi and Sasuke's father, scanned the room over with calculating eyes. "Did he have another fit?" He asked with a sigh, looking straight at his wife. They both made it sound like it happened so often, when in reality it had only happened once before.

Mikoto nodded her head sourly, placing her hands on Itachi in order to support him. She could tell he was hurting just by standing there, but he would never admit it with his father right there in front of him. "It's only to be expected. I would have reacted the same way in his position." She said lowly, defending her son's honor in a soft tone.

Fugaku snorted. "Can't you see that team is holding you back? That Kitchi girl is doing nothing but causing you problems and your teacher is doing nothing to hinder her." He stated calmly, although the words were said with slight venom, and both Itachi and Mikoto could feel the burning hate that came along with those calmly spoken words.

Itachi stood straight, hiding his pain with anger. "Mori-chan is a better ninja already than you'll ever be. My injuries are my own fault for not training hard enough to be able to keep up with her." He hissed angrily, though his voice still held that certain amount of respect that it just had to when around his father.

Before any of them could utter another word, and it was harsh words that were about to be uttered, the sound of the door sliding open brought them back to the moment. Tsumori stood nervously in the entrance to their living room, her shoes still on even if it was horribly disrespectful. "You must be Fugaku-san. A pleasure to meet you." She said as calmly as it was possible for the hyper girl to be, and gave a little bow. "Chi-kun, Garu-kun says we have a mission. And that it's going to pay really well." she added, grinning brightly in his direction. It was as if she couldn't feel the horribly tense atmosphere.

Itachi nodded his head curtly, bowing his head to his father before he followed Tsumori out to their front door, where he slipped on his shoes and grabbed his ninja pouch from a shelf, wrapping it around his leg. "What kind of mission is this? There's not much I can do with my injury." He inquired, closing the doors behind the both of them and nodding his greetings at several of the other Uchiha.

"I hope you're good at Henge." Was all Tsumori told him, probably talking about the mission. You never knew with her. "Your family is creepy. They are all staring at me like I'm some sort of prey." She added, glancing around her at the many Uchiha that were, indeed, staring quite intently.

"It's the eyes." Itachi told her, waving a dismissive hand. "They make our stares look dangerous. And they're staring because we don't get a lot of non-Uchiha in here, and even less of them are little girls with green hair and wearing pink, walking along the road with the successor of the clan." He added with a small smirk, causing Tsumori to grin at him sheepishly.

As the two Genin got out of the Uchiha compound, Garuken was waiting for them. He was seemingly hiding from the dark gazes from the Uchiha, but stepped out and grinned widely with his hands behind his head as the two stepped out. "Yo!" He said happily, moving one ahnd to wave before placing it back behind his head.

"What kind of mission is this? Mori-chan only told me that I need Henge." Itachi asked, getting right to the case. He didn't like the glance the two had shared. "If it has anything to do with entertaining Rune-sensei, I'm out of here." He added with a slight disgust to his tone. This caused Garuken to burst out laughing and Tsumori to giggle softly.

"Close, man, close." Garuken replied, wiping joyous tears from his eyes. "We're gonna have to help out with my family's business. We're going to Henge into women and pretend to Geisha for the rest of the day. My mom has even dressed up for the occasion. She hates looking like a girl more than I do." He explained with a certain glint to his eye that Itachi couldn't quite place. He made it sound like he dressed up as a girl often, and that slightly scared Itachi.

Once they got to the Bakuoni Geisha House, Itachi couldn't help but gape a little. The place was easily the same size as the entire Uchiha compound, which meant it could fit half of the village population with their amount of Geisha. A tall and slender woman with a waterfall of silken, coal strands falling down to her rear came over to them. She was painted white in the face, like Geisha should, and had a slight amount of makeup on, consisting of a light pink lipstick and light blue eye shadow. She was wearing a beautiful, dark purple kimono with silver stars and a crescent moon on it, along with a silver obi. "This must be Itachi-kun?" She asked softly. Her voice was like the velvet song of an angel's voice. She was so beautiful that even though he was just seven, Itachi's breath got caught in his throat.

Garuken waited for a second before he replied. He had expected Itachi to do so, since the younger boy was very proud and preferred introducing himself properly with last name and little bow and all. "Aah, that's Chi-kun, Kaachan." He told his mother casually, patting Itachi on the shoulder. The younger boy looked pretty shocked.

The woman, Garuken's mother, smiled softly. "You're a very pretty boy. I see Garuken was not exaggerating about the beauty of the Uchiha clan. I am truly jealous." She said in that angelic song of a voice that she had. Itachi felt himself blushing. How could she say she was jealous of his beauty when she looked like that? She was breathtaking, literally.

"Kaachan, stop hitting on kids, you creepy woman!" Another, equally beautiful, woman said quite loudly, moving to stand beside, apparently, her mother. They looked the same age, and were all in all incredibly alike, appearance wise. The newcomer was wearing Geisha clothes as well, consisting of a crimson kimono with pink sakura leaves on it and a black obi. Her hair was put into a bun on the back of her head, with a few strands falling down to her rear in the same fashion as her mothers. She was painted white in the face as well, and was wearing a piercing red lipstick and brown eye shadow. "Oh, are these the kids that's going to be helping us today?" She added, placing one of her long-fingered hands on Garuken's head. Itachi noticed that she had really long nails, that were painted red.

Itachi was blushing furiously. He usually didn't blush. Uchiha didn't blush. But he was in a changing room filled with beautiful women, who were mostly half naked. He kept his eyes closed, but he still knew they were there. "Chi-kun, do you know how to do an uninspired Henge?" Tsumori whispered to him nervously. He could tell she was just as uncomfortable as he was.

"Aah." He replied shortly, furrowing his brows. "You just have to bring up an image in your mind and Henge just as if you were do and inspired Henge. I think you should just Henge to an adult version of your actual appearance." He suggested. That would probably be the easiest thing for her, seeing as she was female already.

"You can come in here, guys!" Garuken called from the door he had retreated to earlier. He had muttered something about cleaning a bit first before he left. Itachi didn't waste a second, and nearly dashed toward the new room, dearly hoping there were no half naked people in there. The room was just another changing room with a make-up counter and racks of clothing. "You can Henge in here. Rune-sensei'll be here in a sec, so hurry." Garuken said, already making the hand-seals required to transform.

Itachi gaped a little at Garuken. He was now a woman, looking very much like his mother and sister, aside from the fact that his hair was rather fuzzy instead of a silken waterfall. It was slightly shorter, too, falling onto to his shoulder blades. And he had rather large boobs in female form, Itachi noted. But the most noticeable thing was that he was wearing a pink bra and panties. Itachi raised a fine eyebrow at him.

Adult female Garuken blushed. "Urusai, baka!" The currently female youngster snapped, his... uh... her voice changed to a female one as well. It was the same angelic song voice as his mother's, but with a harsh tone to it that let them know that it really still was Garuken. "By the way, you have to call me Garu-hime while we're in Henge. You have to call all Geisha -hime." He stated as he picked out a dark blue kimono with yellow swirls on it to wear along with a yellow obi with a smaller, red obi stitched to it. He began fixing his make-up.

Tsumori shrugged her shoulders and transformed as well, changing her body to that of an adult woman. She, too, had a rather large chest. Her general appearance stayed the same, aside from the fact that her features became a little more adult and got a certain seductiveness over them. She was already wearing a pink kimono with a green obi and a pattern of green twigs stitched in the fabric. She sat down and had Garuken help her with her make-up.

Itachi sighed and transformed as well. He didn't like it, but it was necessary. After doing the jutsu, he felt odd. He looked in the mirror and blushed furiously. He was a woman. He looked like himself, only now he had rather small boobs, and no... male part. He noted quickly that he looked disturbingly much like his mother, yet he looked younger and more beautiful. He also noted that the odd lines under his eyes were gone.

He padded over the racks of clothing and picked out a black kimono. "If you wear that, you're not going to get any dudes." Garuken commented with a grin that just didn't look right on his female form. "Chicks are supposed to look pretty, fragile and cute. If you wear that, you'll look freaking emo." He added, finishing the touch of pink to Tsumori's lips. He had decided to use pink lipstick and green eyeshadow to keep with the style she had going.

Itachi sighed and placed the black kimono back, picking out a light blue one with white patterns that resembled water on it and a pink obi with the same pattern as the kimono. He gazed questionably at Garuken, who only nodded while he was powdering his own face white. Itachi wondered how many times he had done this. He seemed disturbingly used to it. Actually, this whole situation disturbed him.

After they had all changed and had their make-up on, all they had to do was to wait for Runeji. Garuken had settled with red lipstick and dark blue eyeshadow for himself and, almost black, red lipstick and silver eyeshadow for Itachi. He felt really weird, wearing make-up. He also kept shifting his wieght from one foot to the other, just not feeling right with the fact that he was a woman. His balance was off completely as well, thanks to the horrid shoes they had to wear. They were odd sandals made from wood and hand a strap going up between his toes. He didn't like it.

A woman with bright purple hair, huge tits and a body that most men would kill to see just once came over to them. She had a look of seduction on her face, which was painfully visible even through the make-up. Like all other Geisha, her face was white, and her lips were painted a deep shade of pink, with matched the eyeshadow. She was wearing a kimono, though hers stopped right over her knees, showing off the slender, tan legs. It was deep red with purple butterflies on it and had a deep pink obi to match her make-up. She reached out and grabbed at Itachi, taking a hold of his chest.

"Itai!" Itachi yelped, his female voice bouncing off the walls. It was a deep and pretty voice, and not the least bit masculine. He pushed the newly arrived woman away, and only now did he notice that she wasn't wearing the horrid shoes, but nice, purple stilettos with straps and stuff. "What the hell?" He scolded, placing both hands on his hips.

"Too small!" The woman replied, raising a finger and poking Itachi on the forehead. "Chi-hime's breast are too small! Make them bigger!" She exclaimed, reaching out to molest Garuken instead. He just smacked her across the head, causing Itachi to nearly faint.

"Rune-sensei, stop being like that!" Garuken snapped. It just didn't sound right. Itachi's eyes nearly popped out. That woman was Runeji. Garuken placed both hands on his hips and blew a strand of hair out of his face. "And did you forget that Itachi-kun is injured? His chest might not be able to handle bigger boobs without his wound springing open." He added, gripping at runeji's chest just like Runeji had done to Itachi.

"Boys..." Garuken's mother spoke softly, suddenly just appearing out of no where. "Who would like to get introduced first?" She asked, glacning over all of them. Itachi noted that her eyes were just as red as Garuken's.

"I would, but I'm not new, so it has to be one of you." Garuken said, placing a hand on each of Tsubaki and Itachi's shoulders. "You just have to go out there and dance a little and perhaps flirt a bit with your body. Then tell them your name and leave." He explained, pushing Tsumori out first.

She stepped out elegantly, swaying her hips like a woman should. Itachi watched and learned. She moved her hips gently to the rhythm of the music and Itachi vaguely remembered her once telling that she had wanted to be a dancer. She swayed her hips, moved her feet and wriggled her body elegantly, but it was quite obvious that she was holding back. Perhaps she was afraid that she would make a mistake in this new body. As the music stopped, she bowed down on her knees and spoke in a soft voice that Itachi didn't recognize as hers at all. "I'm Mori-hime. Please choose me." Her words bounced off the walls, and even though it was spoken softly, he was certain everyone had heard.

Itachi stepped out, feeling odd about swaying his hips as he walked. He mimicked the same kind of movements as Tsumori had used quite well, even adding in an elegant twirl that he was only able to perform thanks to his ninja training. He now understood while people said that if you can dance, you can fight. He was basically using the same moves he used when he was practicing his combat moves, just softer and following the tact of the music. He stopped along with the music, bending down on his knees and bowing like Tsumori had done. "I'm Chi-hime, please choose me." He said, his deep and seductive female voice not sounding right in his own ears. He heard a few whispers and heard the word Uchiha mentioned, causing him to hurry a little on his way out. "Someone recognized me as an Uchiha." He stated in panic as he got back out to the others.

Garuken grinned widely, a pink tinge entering his cheeks. "You shouldn't worry, Chi-kun. We have about six Uchiha women here already. You guys are all so damn pretty that people just can't stop talking about you. Besides, you look nothing like yourself." He assured the younger male. Itachi was not exactly happy knowing what the Uchiha woman did while their kids went to the academy. It seemed a little sick to him.

There was no more time to talk as the one they had earlier identified as Garuken's sister came and dragged all of them with her. "Chi-hime was requested for room three by a group of young men. Garu-hime, you're in room twenty with your usual gentlemen. Rune-hime, you have room seven with a whole ward of dudes and Mori-hime, you have three elderly men waiting for you in room forty-two." She spoke quickly. "I'm in room twenty-one and Kaachan is in room one, if you need something." She added before scurrying off.

"If anyone touch you weirdly or do anything they aren't supposed to, feel free to knee them in the sack and scream bloody murder." Garuken said, giving the rest of them a thumbs up before he scurried along as well.

"And if you feel the need for it, just kill 'em right on the spot." Runeji added sadistically as a add on to Garuken's speech. He waved his hand lazily and staggered along as well, his long, slender legs seeming completely wrong with the way he walked. Itachi guessed he walked differently when there were customers around.

Tsumori looked downright scared. She had more emotion on her face, now that it was actually possible for her to look other than cute. "If anything happens, call for me. I'll be there before you can blink. It's my fault you're injured." She said seriously. Itachi didn't like that look on her face. She wasn't Tsumori right now. He just nodded his head and left towards where he knew room three would be, thanks to many signs on the walls and doors.


	9. Sasuke chan

Itachi padded away from his teammates and sensei as they were saying their goodbyes. The day had went basically painless, except for some old fart trying to grope Tsumori, asking her if her hair was really that color. It had resulted in Tsumori losing her concentration and resuming to her original form, which had caused quite a bit of panic around the place and in the end resulted in Fugaku coming to arrest the man that had tried to grope Tsumori. "... I'm terribly sorry for the inconvenience with Gorumito-san. He has never done anything like that before, I can assure you." Garuken's mother said, shaking Fugaku's rough hand with both of her smooth, feminine one. Itachi didn't like the look on his father's face, but decided not to comment.

They all parted ways and Itachi walked with his father back towards the compound. It was already two in the morning and his father had to go to work at eight. He was less than pleased, even if he kept his smile on for as long as he was with other people. "Itachi, what the hell were you doing at that place?" The elder Uchiha's deep voice rumbled, demanding a reply.

Itachi gulped. "W-We were asked to use Henge as a resort of helping them. Rune-sensei said it was good training for both chakra, endurance, concentration, doing missions we weren't fond of and manners. If Mori-chan hadn't been groped, it would have been a success." He said in a voice that was simply too timid for his usual blank personality.

"And what if it had been you?" Fugaku asked with an anger to his tone, yet he wasn't raising his voice or anything. "What if you had been the one to lose your concentration and lost your Henge? People would have seen it was you. How do you think the village would react to the heir of the Uchiha clan doing stuff like that? Haven't they lost enough respect for us already?" He added, his voice keeping the same tone the entire time.

"It wasn't." Itachi replied rather quickly, with a hint of anger to his tone as well. "You have to understand, Tousama. Being a ninja is different from being a Police Officer. To us, a mission is a mission and no matter if we like it or not, we have to do it. Our 'cases', to use words you would understand, are not decided by what we want, but what the Hokage and our sensei finds fitting." He said seriously. He knew his father knew that. After all, both he and his wife used to be a ninja.

Fugaku furrowed his brows at his son's words. He knew Itachi was a genius, and he had been a smooth talker ever since he knew how, but he would not stand being lectured by a seven-years-old boy. "You are still an Uchiha, ninja or not. Keep that in mind. One day you're going to have to choose what is more important; the village, or your family." He stated seriously, pushing the door to their house open to let his oldest son in before himself.

Itachi stared at his father. He kept his face clear of emotion and his voice monotone as he spoke in a calm and collected manner. "You can stuff the clan and our pride up where the sun don't shine, 'cause I'm doing this for Sasuke. Not me or you. Not the clan or the village. I'd give up my life to make this village a better place, just for Sasuke." The words flowed so easily from his mouth. He hadn't even meant to say it like that, but now it was said.

Fugaku matched his son's stare for a moment before he closed his eyes and sighed. "I'll keep that in mind." He said before stepping inside and slipping his shoes off, leaving Itachi behind and the door wide open. He couldn't care anymore. Itachi was bringing pride and respect back to the clan, whether or not that was his intention. That was all that mattered. "Do your best, Itachi. Make a good ninja." He called out over his shoulder.

Itachi stood back, feeling oddly out of place. He had just told his father directly to shove the clan and his pride up his ass, and yet the old man just told him to do his best. He thought about it as he slid the doors shut and slipped off his shoes. It made enough sense to him, once he started thinking. He knew that the Uchiha clan wasn't as well respected and all as it used to be, and that their blood wasn't flowing as strongly either because of the many non-Uchiha that had married in. It only made sense that his father would want him to do good so the village would see the Uchiha in another light again, regardless of what Itachi's inner intentions were.

To the rest of the world, even Tsumori, Garuken and Runeji, all Itachi wanted was to be a good ninja. He suspected that they were guessing otherwise, seeing as he never really cared much for fighting or anything, if you don't count the few times his temper exploded. He tip-toed up the stairs, using his ninja skill to move without making a single sound. Even if the stairs wanted to creak, his feather-light touch wouldn't allow it to.

He stepped into his room, groaning slightly at the mess Sasuke had made of his bed; the covers laid sprawled on the floor and the pillows were discarded everywhere. He changed out of his clothes and pulled on his pajamas instead, yawning deeply and dropping onto his bed. He could do without the covers and all for the night. He was simply too tired.

A rather shrill cry and a shake of his shoulders was what woke Itachi up the next morning."'Tachi!" Sasuke exclaimed, sounding frightened and close to panic. Itachi groaned, but sat up and tried his best at a smile non-the-less. Sasuke looked relieved and beamed his brother a huge grin. "I thought you wasn't gonna wake up!" He exclaimed happily.

Itachi chuckled tiredly and rubbed his brother's hair rather lazily. "Weren't, Sasuke. Not wasn't." He corrected the youngster, who only pouted in return. "Oniisan is really tired today, and wants to sleep as much as he can, okay?" He asked, rubbing his left eye with the back of his hand. God, what time was it? He felt like he hadn't slept at all.

Sasuke pointed behind him, at the entrance to the room, where their mother was standing with an amused smile on her face. "You came home rather late last night, dear. Don't tell me that your early promotion has caused you to become a teenager prematurely?" She inquired, the amusement spreading to her eyes as well.

Itachi looked absolutely dumbfounded. "What?" He asked after a moment of trying to figure it out. His mother's smile only widened and she tapped her lip. Itachi furrowed his brows and reached up to touch his face and to his dismay, his fingers were covered in a thin layer of, almost black, red lipstick. He blushed darkly and growled. "It was a mission, Kaachan! I was dressed up as a Geisha!" He stated, only blushing worse as he realized that sounded even worse. He let out a groan and tumbled onto his side, pretending to die on the bed.

Sasuke giggled cutely and pushed at his brother. "'Tachi, wake up! I wanna play!" He demanded cutely, tugging at a strand of hair on his brother's head, ripping another deep groan from Itachi. Sasuke quickly found amusement in drawing different tones of groans our of his older brother, who in the end rolled onto his back and glared at the small boy. "I wanna play ninja!" Sasuke exclaimed happily, tugging at his brother's hand.

Itachi let out yet another groan, but allowed himself to get off the bed. "Sasuke, I just woke up." He whined, glancing at the clock on the wall. It wasn't even seven yet. His eyes widened and he yanked his hand away from Sasuke, grabbing the covers on the floor and throwing himself back into bed. "Forget it! It's too early! This is my day off, so I'm gonna sleep in!" He exclaimed sourly, wrapping himself into a cocoon of covers.

"Itachi-kun, your little friends came by about half an hour ago." Mikoto chimed happily. Itachi rose his head, looking at his mother with absolute disbelief. "The big guy looked like the little girl had dragged him all the way here. She was so cute. She kept saying that she needed to be with you and be your muscles, whatever that means." She added happily, seeing the first shocked, then annoyed and lastly he just looked like he was going back to sleep.

Itachi let out a very long and very deep groan, throwing the covers off and dragging himself out of bed again. "Her name is Mori-chan, Kaachan. And the big guy, is that our sensei or Garu-kun?" He asked, stripping off his night pants and pulling his shorts on instead, doing the same with his night shirt and trading it with a black tank-top with the Uchiha symbol on both front and back. He had the day off, she he didn't need to wear his 'uniform'.

Mikoto sighed. "It was Garu-kun, then. You know I know that... U-s-u-r-a-t-o-n-k-a-t-c-h-i … Runeji's name." She said, spelling out the bad word so Sasuke wouldn't pick it up. Itachi raised an eyebrow at the insult she had chosen. He had heard it before, he thought, from a red-haired woman that his mother had used to hang around with a lot until not too long after Sasuke was born. He guessed she had gotten her hands full with two kids. "That Garu-kun really sparks my Gaydar." Mikoto comment, rather off topic.

Itachi spluttered a little, staring at his mother with wide eyes. "Kaachan!" He exclaimed, blushing furiously. "Garu-kun is not... wait... he kinda is..." His voice trailed off, having begun at an angry and embarrassed tone, but ended in one of realization. "You know, he grew up around tons of women. I guess he just kinda wanted to fit in." He finished, rubbing his head to force his hair down flat on his head.

Mikoto giggled. "I've never heard you say 'kinda' before. Did you learn some 'slang' from your little friends?" She asked, patting his head before she bent down to pick Sasuke up. The youngest Uchiha wriggled and whine for his mother to let go, but she more or less ignored him. "That Garu one, right? He seemed like the type to talk like that. The little girl was just too cute!" She exclaimed happily, playing with Sasuke's feet while she balanced him on her lower arms. It looked weird.

"Either him or Rune-sensei." Itachi said with a slightly sour tone to his voice as he grabbed some bandages and drew his shirt off again. He forgot he had to change them. He gave his mother a stern look and she put Sasuke on the ground. "Go play in your room, Sasuke-chan. I'll join you in a moment." He spoke softly, smiling that brotherly smile he used around Sasuke. Sasuke only nodded happily and ran off.

Mikoto took the bandages from Itachi's hand and began unraveling the ones that were already around his chest. Once they were off, she studied the closing wound for a moment. "It's healing up nicely. It's going to scar badly, but it's not going to bother you." She assured him before she began wrapping his torso up again.

"I know." Itachi replied dully. "That's what the medics said. I'm going to have permanent damage to my lung, but I wont notice it after a few weeks. I'll be 'as good as new', aside from not being covered in goo and screaming like a balloon." He stated, smirking a little as his mother giggled.

"You've changed." Mikoto told him with gleaming eyes as she finished with the bandages. "That's good. I was really afraid you were going to hate being a ninja. You always hated fighting and stuff so much ever since..." Her voice trailed off to a soft whisper and she shook her head. "Kyuubi." She added even lower.

Itachi froze as he was pulling his shirt over his head. Pictures flashed in his mind for a moment. Images of death and destruction; the things that had followed when Kyuubi had attacked. He had been so scared back then, and he hadn't been able to find either of his parents. He was lucky to be alive, he always thought. "Kaachan, please don't." He said seriously, unfreezing and slipping his shirt on.

"Itachi-kun, some day you're going to have to talk about it, or it'll eat you up on the inside." Mikoto said, placing a hand on his shoulder. He shrugged it off and proceeded to wrap bandages around his leg, where his ninja pouch would usually be fastened; out of habit. "None of us know how much you saw, Itachi. Please just... Talk to me." She begged of him.

Itachi sighed and ran a hand down his hair. "It's fine, Kaachan. I don't remember much, unless I'm reminded." He said, forcing a smile to his face. He poked her forehead, not as hard as Runeji normally did to him and the others, but just a casual little poke. It caused his mother to frown. "Gomen. Rune-sensei does it all the time. It kinda just catches on, you know." He said casually, shrugging his shoulders and searching for whatever on his messy floor.

Mikoto laughed joyously. "Why, now I've heard that, too! You talk like a teenager, _you know_?" She said, giggling cutely. Itachi shot her a deadly glare. "It's better than talking like an old man." she added, sticking her tongue out at him. Itachi sometimes wondered how his mother managed to become as good a ninja as she had been, seeing as she had never really grown out of being a teenager.

"I'm just as polite and well spoken as I have always been, thank you very much." Itachi said, deciding that there was nothing else he needed just to go play with Sasuke. "Now, if you will excuse me, I have to go entertain Sasuke-chan before he decides to come back in and rip my chest open... literally." He added, bowing a little and leaving his room to go join Sasuke, knowing full and well that his mother would begin cleaning his room as soon as he was out.

As soon as Itachi stepped inside Sasuke's room, the younger Uchiha jumped at him, latching his arms around his waist and hugging his head close to his chest. Itachi grunted with the pain, but tried not to pull away from his younger brother. He knew he had been busy a lot with his ninja missions and training, so he barely ever talked to Sasuke, let alone play with him, anymore. "Oniisan, how come I can't wait for you while you change anymore? You always tell me to leave..." The younger Uchiha whined.

Itachi chuckled softly, causing himself quite a bit of pain with his younger brother squeezed to his chest like he was. He patted the younger Uchiha's head and ruffled his hair a little. "It's not that I don't you there, Sasuke-chan, I just don't think you should see me without my shirt right now. Oniisan has something really gross on his chest." He said softly, trying his best not to show that he was in pain. He also didn't mention the pain, since his brother would then be buried in guilt.

Sasuke poked at his brother's chest, causing the older Uchiha to give a slight grunt of pain. "Is it that thing you was wearing bandages for in the hos-pi-tal?" He asked, saying the large word 'hospital' rather awkwardly. Being an Uchiha, he was quick at learning due to being tutored severely, but he was still just three years old and was barely able to read yet and had difficulties with longer and more complicated words.

Itachi nodded his head. Sasuke's titled his in response, silently asking what was going on. Sasuke was a bright kid, regardless of his difficulties with the more complicated words. He was defiantly not stupid and he was quite observant. He wouldn't go for some shit-faced story. "Oniisan was training with Mori-chan and Garu-kun, and he got his chest hurt a little. It's nothing to worry about." He said, poking at his own chest a few times to prove it was nothing big. He tried his best not to show how much it hurt.

Sasuke furrowed his brows and grabbed Itachi's hand holding it up so the older Uchiha could see the still-present scars from when he had cut himself on the wire. "You always get hurt!" The younger exclaimed angrily, almost as he was blaming his brother for his injuries. It was obvious that he was deeply worried. His father never got hurt, and he was working with the same thing for all Sasuke knew.

Itachi chuckled again, gently pushing his little brother away a little by his small shoulders. "I know, I know. I've been told." He said, hiding his hurt behind false amusement. If Tsumori and Garuken had known about the damage he had done to his hand during their training back with the river, they would had teased him even more with it. The older Uchiha couldn't help it that his skin was rather thin. Luckily, he scared very little and the small pink lines that was still on his hand was barely noticeable to anyone who didn't directly know they were there.

Sasuke furrowed his brows even more, simply looking at his brother for a moment. The younger could tell that there was something troubling the older, but he couldn't tell what. It had always been like that, though. Itachi would sometimes become all distant and different, even if he tried acting completely normal. Their parents had never seemed to catch on to it, so Sasuke decided that it couldn't be that important a thing. He grinned and tugged on his brother's hand, taking him to a bunch of plastic ninja tools that was spread out on the floor.

Itachi was thankful for the distraction from his suddenly rather self-conscious thoughts. He accepted the plastic kunai his brother handed him and flipped it over in his hand so the blade was facing outward when he had his palm downward. "Hold it like this when you're in close range." He said, showing it to his brother, who gladly mimicked the motion. The elder switched the fake kunai again so it was in his palm and reclined with the length of his fingers. "And like this when you throw." He added, once again showing his brother.

Sasuke was grinning widely, happily learning from his brother. To Itachi, this was called ninja training and was something he'd a most times rather do without, if it wasn't for the fact that he needed it to stay alive; Sasuke knew that. To Sasuke, however, this was not training. It was valuable time with his brother. It seemed that all his brother really cared for at this time was being a ninja, so Sasuke would adapt to that. Besides, he had to learn this stuff anyway in a few years when he entered the Academy. Might as well be ahead a little.

Itachi made a motion with the hand that was holding the kunai, pushing it forward to generate momentum and flung the kunai in his hand forward, hitting the wall with the plastic thing, causing it to give out a squeak. He chuckled a little at the sound, picking a new one up from the floor. "When you throw, you have to create momentum; let gravity help you, or it's going to be really difficult to get enough power in it to even penetrate a soft cheese." He said, moving his hand forward in the same motion, but noticeably slower, so his brother would learn.

Sasuke took the movement in and tried to repeat it. He think he did all right, but once he tried again, a little faster, and actually let go of the toy, it hit nowhere near where he was aiming. He furrowed his brows and pouted, glaring at the spot on the wall like it was that's fault for being there.

Itachi chuckled and rubbed at Sasuke's head, messing up his hair more than it was already. "The aim takes a long time to learn, Sasuke-chan. I couldn't hit even near the spot I intended until after a week of excessive training." He comforted the younger. Sasuke didn't seem to brighten up, though. Itachi was actually very proud of his little brother. He was learning things incredibly fast, though not as fast as he had. Sasuke was smarter than he was, though. He took in everything new and fit the pieces together. It was like the younger Uchiha had a different mindset, to Itachi.

Sasuke gave a childish groan and pushed his fingers into his own hair, both trying to get it to lay flatly again after Itachi's attack to the raven strands, but also to relive him some of his frustration. His hair didn't come down, though, and kept fuzzing out heavily at the back of his head. "Training. Everything takes training! Reading, writing, talking right, using the chopsticks and becoming a ninja! Is there anything that _doesn't_ take training?" The young Uchiha asked, sounding way more angry and prissy than he had intended.

Itachi looked at his brother sadly for a moment before giving a soft smile. "Sure there is." He said finally, pushing the toy weapons aside and leaning down on one knee so he could look his brother straight in the eye. There was a certain amount of confusion in the younger Uchiha's eyes, and Itachi had never been more proud of him. This young boy, his little brother, was able to bring emotion to their emotionless eyes. "Love." He said simply, reaching forward and placing his index finger on the younger Uchiha's forehead, pushing his head back a little and giving a soft smile. Sasuke blinked his eyes a few times before he grinned. Itachi gave a slight chuckle; Sasuke's smiles always reached his eyes.


	10. Twin Mission

"Sasuke, let go of your brother!" Mikoto scolded the younger Uchiha son, tugging at him to get him to let go of Itachi. The raven-haired child has his arms wrapped firmly around Itachi's waist, locking his hands at his rump and simply refusing to let Itachi go; Itachi was off to his first long-term mission and wouldn't be back for at least a week. Needless to say, Sasuke wasn't taking the departure very well. Mikoto gave one last, good tug, effectively picking the young boy off of his brother. "Sasuke-chan, please clam down." Mikoto spoke softly, her face betraying her attempt to stay cool as she looked absolutely broken.

Itachi remained next to emotionless. He simply stared back at his brother with a simple, curious look. "I'll be back before you know it. I won't miss your birthday." He promised softly, reaching out to place a finger at his brother's forehead. "I'll train with you when I get back." He added, turning to the door, picking his bag up from the floor and following Tsumori out as she left a little too quickly; it was obvious she had been uncomfortable.

Sasuke kept kicking and screaming, tears streaming down his face. He and his brother had been spending a lot of time together lately. Itachi's wound had opened again, and the doctors had deemed him unfit for missions until he was properly healed. He hadn't even been allowed to train. So he had been playing with Sasuke and their bond had gotten just as strong as it had been before. His teammates hadn't been around to ruin it, either, since they had kept getting missions without him. Sasuke had liked it. They had been alone in their world again, just like they used to. They had even spent Itachi's birthday together; Fugaku had gotten off from work and everything.

Yes, Itachi had been lolling around the house with his mother and Sasuke for over a month. He was fed with it, to say the least. He was bored, annoyed and felt horribly weak. He knew his teammates were out there training; getting better and stronger, while he was stuck with doing the dishes and throwing rubber weapons whenever his mother wasn't looking. For the first couple of weeks, he had even been forced to sleep in the same bed as his mother, just so she could keep an eye on him. She worried way too much, in his opinion, and he knew it wasn't for him. He knew she worried for Sasuke, knowing that the younger boy would be devastated if anything were to happen to Itachi.

It was a common fact in the Uchiha Compound, that Uchiha Mikoto had given up on her oldest son, Itachi. He was only eight years of age, and yet he managed to act somewhere in between being a horribly defiant teenager and being an old hippie. He was quite the handful for a mother, only because he didn't need one anymore. He was completely independent on anything but the shelter and food they provided him, which they all knew he could find elsewhere if he felt the need for it. His ninja salary was plenty to support himself, and for some reason he got larger tips than any of the elder Uchiha ever had. And aside from that, he was dangerous. Earning the rank of Genin at the age of seven was formidable, but earning the rank of Genin at the age of seven and joining an already experienced team and managing to reach their level within the span of only a few months, that was what made people look up to him.

Itachi let out a small sigh as he walked next to his green-haired teammate. Tsumori knew when to speak and when not to. Itachi wasn't all that hard to figure out. She knew it bothered him to leave his brother behind like that, but she also knew that he knew he had to if he wanted to get stronger. "We've got to swing by the Police Department and tell my father goodbye." The Uchiha said, his voice slightly more sour than it should have been. He had nothing against his father. He just disliked the fact that the man was basically using him in order to regain respect to their clan.

Tsumori nodded her head and resisted the urge to crack a grin. She had learned that Itachi didn't exactly appreciate her happy nature when he was down like this. He wasn't the type to just soak up happiness like Garuken. He always got even more down when people around him were happy. He was a weird one. "I'll just wait by the gate. Don't take too long." She said quietly, giving a small smile and patting Itachi on the shoulder before setting into a run and getting the hell out of the compound. The Uchiha had gotten used to her being around so much and they had gotten used to never seeing Itachi without her, but it didn't stop them from sending her disapproving glares; a Kitchi had nothing to do with the Uchiha heir.

"Tou-sama!" Itachi called, offering a smile to one of the officers that walked past him before turning to face his father with an emotionless mine again. "I'm leaving for my mission now. I wanted to tell you so you know what to expect at home." He stated flatly, placing a hand on his hip and letting out a sigh.

Fugaku placed the papers in his hands down and gave a smile. "Do your best as always, Itachi-kun." He said approvingly, placing one of his large hands at the young boy's shoulder and giving it a firm squeeze. Itachi tried his best not to wince. Showing that he was still in pain from the fall he took at their last mission wouldn't be a good idea. He had to remind himself not to get hurt anymore. "I'm counting on you." Fugaku said, lifting his hand in order to bring it back down with a light pat before turning back to his paperwork.

Itachi merely nodded his head and turned to leave. He caught a few people whispering about him, so he kept his back straight and his face emotionless. He could moan, groan and sigh all he wanted when he was alone with his team. They were never bothered when he decided to be bitchy. They actually seemed to find it amusing. He always failed to see how a eight year old boy complaining about everything that came to mind that had annoyed him since the last time they talked would be amusing in any way.

Tsumori gave a light wave and offered a small, obviously strained, smile when Itachi met her outside the compound. She was the only person he knew that actually had to force herself _not_ to smile. Itachi gave her a smile in return, followed by a small sigh. "Mori-chan, you don't have to force yourself. It's fine for you to be, well, you." He said, running a hand over his head to flatten his hair. He never got how people could just let their hair grow freely and wildly. He hated when his hair wasn't flat. People like Shisui didn't make sense to him.

Tsumori pouted a little, even though she didn't mean to. "But, I know that you don't like it, Chi-kun. I don't want you to not like me." She stated as a matter of fact, and she didn't seem whiny about it. She merely said it for the purpose of getting it out. Itachi left it at that, not really knowing what to say to it. What was there to say? He and Tsumori had simply gotten used to each other. Garuken and Runeji as well.

The other two males were looking rather amused as Itachi arrived alongside Tsumori. Garuken looked like he was fighting back a grin and Runeji was simply smirking like he knew something that no one else did. Itachi merely raised an eyebrow at him, silently asking what was going on.

"They're twins!" Garuken exclaimed in a both happy and hushed tone. 'They' were obviously rather close. Itachi looked about to see any signs of said twins. He couldn't see any twins. Garuken made to grab Itachi, but the younger male stepped back to avoid the grip. "Chi-kun, twins!" He repeated, his hand pointing in the direction of somewhere behind Itachi.

Itachi turned around to see why said twins were so damn interesting and immediately he ha to resist the urge to allow his eyes to widen. There were a couple of twins standing side by side in front of the Hokage, talking happily to the man. Both of them had fiercely red hair, one kept it in a bun and one kept it in a low ponytail, and they wore matching, but opposite dresses in pink and purple. "Female identical twins..." He muttered under his breath, one fine eyebrow raising without him even realizing it.

"It's every man's dream to find a couple of dandy twins. Look, they're even holding hands." Garuken said, taking a hold of Itachi's shoulder without the younger boy bothering to swipe it away. Itachi didn't understand his interest in the twins, but he was very certain that it was not the same as Garuken's. "We're going to be escorting them all the way to Suna." The older boy said happily, patting Itachi's shoulder before letting go.

Itachi moved as soon as his shoulder was released. He strode over to the two girls, the one with the bun leaning gently against the one with the ponytail while the one with the ponytail spoke to the Hokage in a low serious tone while her face portrayed happiness. "... a couple of kinds and a pervert will be enough?" The end of her sentence caught Itachi's ear.

"I assure you that these kids are not normal children." The old man spoke with a smile on his lips, turning is attention to Itachi. "Itachi-kun, ohayou gozaimasu." He said, giving a small jut of his head in greeting.

Itachi bowed deeply, lowering his head in honor to the Hokage. "Ohayou gozaimsu, Hokage-sama." He said in a deep tone of respect and admiration. "Hajimemashite, I am Uchiha Itachi." He added, bowing to the twins as well. "I hear it will be our mission to escort you safely to Sunagakure." He stated with just as much respect as he had used with the Hokage. He could almost feel the chakra radiating from the twins.

"What a cute kid! So the Uchiha are really as pretty as they say? Wow. I thought it was just some stupid rumor because they're, you know, powerful." The twin with the bun said in a tone much like the one Tsumori would use normally. Too excited about nothing. Itachi made a mental note to keep his female teammate away from this girl, or he would have a migraine before the day was over. Itachi glanced back at his team at the sound of a thud and managed to get a glimpse of Garuken's grinning face before Tsumori kicked him in the ribs. Itachi almost winced at the thought of a kick to the ribs, but his sympathy pain was quickly washed away when he caught the movement of Garuken's lips. He was talking about twins.

"Don't talk nonsense, Hikaru." The twin with the ponytail said, drawing Itachi's attention back to the girls, who were both still facing him. He noticed that they even had the same color of lip gloss on. "This is most certainly not to time to be commenting on the appearance of our guides." She added in a stern, lecturing tone, though she still sounded quite immature by the mere sound of her voice. For some reason, Itachi wanted to reach up and touch the flowers in their hair. He had never seen such realistic hair accessories before, and certainly none as complicated as a Lotus flower.

The one with the bun, Hikaru, giggled sweetly in a way that made Itachi want to vomit up his breakfast, however little it had been. "Hikari, you meanie. He's not our guide, he's our _escort_. Those fancy terms are very important to ninja." She said in a tone that sounded very much playful. Itachi's urge to vomit grew to the point where he was pretty sure Tsumori or Runeji would notice his discomfort.

"We actually don't care." Runeji said, placing one on his hands on Itachi's shoulder in a reassuring way and giving a slight squeeze to assure him that he had picked up on the 'uncomfortable' signals, before letting go again and placing his hands in his pockets, mimicking Garuken's pose next to him. "As long as you do as we say and don't run off or otherwise complicate our mission, you can call it whatever you want." He said with a smile. "I'm Runeji, the jounin of the team. Just call me Rune-sensei." He said casually, nudging Garuken in the side with his elbow.

"Garuken, but you can call me Garu-kun." Garuken said, grinning widely at the twins for a moment before clearing his throat and seemingly forcing himself to come down. Itachi wondered if it was because of Tsumori that he was trying to keep himself in check, or if it was because of the fact that the twins were their clients.

The twin with the bun, Hikaru, seemed to get excited at his introduction. "Oh, are you an Uchiha, too? You look kinda like one!" She asked, almost in Garuken's face, her nose merely an inch apart from his. She was even bending a little at her knees to get to eye level with him.

Garuken made a disgruntled sound and drew his face back a little, looking almost offended. "Are you kidding me? Uchiha are beautiful! I don't have nearly the grace or feminine touch to be one of them. I'm proudly from the Bakuoni clan." He said, looking almost like he wanted to jut his chin out and look defiant, but he didn't.

"Garu-kun, don't be mean to our clients." Tsumori said sweetly, coming to stand next to him and discreetly placing her foot over his toes, not pressing down yet but obviously going to if Garuken didn't behave. Itachi had to resist the urge to smirk. "I'm Kitchi Tsumori, but you can call me Mori-chan. If you don't mind me asking you, is your names really Hikari and Hikaru?" She asked, still sweetly and more polite that her usual bubbly self. Itachi found that he liked her better like that.

"Hai!" Hikaru, with the bun, exclaimed, nodding her head excitedly. "Akakaze Hikaru, would be me, and this is my younger twin sister, Akakaze Hikari. I'm nicknamed Kage, though, since it's funny if we're Light and Shadow." She said, even more excitedly than she looked.

"Can we just get going?" Tsumori asked, looking like her usually cheery self, only a little more polite, but sounding vaguely grumpy. Tsumori was never grumpy. Itachi raised an eyebrow at her, the shadows in his eyes lighting just a little to allow the pink-clad girl to see the confusion hidden in their depths. "We only have three days and the trip takes three days at least. If we don't hurry, we wont get paid." She elaborated.

Garuken made an impatient noise. "Come on! Lets just go!" He exclaimed, grabbing a hold of Tsumori's arm and dragging her towards the gate in a run. Tsumori let out an amused giggle and went with him, letting him hold her hand as they ran ahead. Runeji sighed and shook his head a little, taking off after them.

"Please, follow me." Itachi said politely, bowing his head a little before he turned to the gate and began running. He heard the perfectly matched steps of the twins following behind him and decided to test how well they could run, upping his speed and allowing his arms to fall back behind him to create less backward momentum of the wind. The steps behind him kept up nicely, even as they passed by the sprinting Runeji and soon the running Tsumori and Garuken. Itachi almost growled as he channeled chakra to his feet, upping his speed even more. He could hear the steps of Tsumori and the matched steps of the twins behind him, but Garuken had been left behind. Itachi smirked and halted to a simple run, waiting for his male teammate and sensei to catch up. "Who'd have thought that Rune-sensei was the slowest, huh?" He asked, smiling at Tsumori as she came up beside him.

"I would." Tsumori told him with a grin, taking a step closer to him so their shoulders were nearly touching while they ran. "Are you okay though? You looked a little off by having to go to your father and you looked like Sasuke really hurt you inside." She added in a more serious tone. One that really didn't fit Tsumori at all.

Itachi nodded his head a little, allowing that soft, brotherly smile of his to grace his features. "He did. It hurts me to see him upset. But it's a necessary evil, if I'm going to make the world a better place for him to grow up." He said, glancing over at Tsumori's worried look. The knitted brows quickly went up and her frown quickly turned into a smile as soon as he looked at her. She was obviously trying not to let on that she was worried. "Mori-chan..." He warned and whined at once, his brows knitting together tightly.

Tsumori grew silent and fell back a step, allowing Itachi his superiority that she knew he needed. He had been out of commission as a ninja for quite a while. He needed to feel strong. She kept her senses alert and stayed one step behind the Uchiha, the twins behind her, whispering and giggling every now and then, then Garuken and Runeji froming the rear with loud conversation.

After only a few hours of travel, it became obvious that they had slowed down quite a bit. It seemed Itachi was already running out of energy and Tsumori felt a pang of guilt in her chest. She fell back another few steps so she was beside the twin with the bun. "Could you do me a favor and ask for a break? Itachi-kun was hurt really badly some time ago and he needs to rest, even if he wont admit to it himself." She said sweetly, smiling at the teen and seeming to talk about something else entirely, as if she was worried that Itachi would be able to see her through the back of his head.

The twin with the bun smiled in return and stopped in her tracks, heaving a loud sigh and placing her hands on her knees as if she was panting. "I really need a break! We've been running like this for hours!" She exclaimed, running the back of her hand over her brow to wipe away sweat that wasn't there. Tsumori had to hold back the grin that threatened to split her face in half.

The others stopped as well and Itachi looked mildly annoyed, but the paleness of his skin and yet redness of his cheeks told Tsumori that he had need the break more than she thought. "I'll go find something to eat. I'm starving!" Tsumori said, putting a hand to her stomach to intensify the statement. "Garu-kun could you find some water? Chi-kun, you guard the twins." she ordered, grinning widely before she simply leaped off before anyone could argue with her. Garuken took the bait and leaped off as well, leaving Itachi, Runeji and the twins on their own.

The twin with the bun sat down on the ground, letting out a relived sigh. "It's so moist here in Konoha! I can barely breathe!" She stated, coughing wetly to intensify. Her sister sat down beside her, looking rather blank and uncaring. "Ne, Hikari-chan, you look a little pale." The one with the bun said, placing a hand on the other's forehead.

Hikari shook her head, effectively removing the hand on her face. "It's the moist heat. It goes straight to my head." She stated blandly, wiping actual sweat away from her brow and shivering a little at once. She directed her yellow gaze towards Itachi. "I get migraines." She clarified.

Itachi gave a curt nod of his head, vaguely wondering if he looked just as bad. He felt bad. His chest felt like it was filled with stones and he had a hard time breathing properly. Her felt like his head was swimming and he had a hard time focusing his sight. He felt like he could just drop dead any minute now. "Where is Garu with that water?" He growled lowly under his breath.

"Itachi-kun, are you all right? You look really pale." Runeji stated, placing a cold hand on the Uchiha's forehead. "Kami, you're burning up!" He exclaimed, quickly drawing his hand away to grasp both sides of Itachi's face and examine his eyes.

"I'm fine." Itachi snapped, slapping his sensei's hands away and scowling at him like he had just committed a mortal sin. "I'm just a little tired because Sasuke slept in my bed last night." He elaborated. It wasn't a lie. He was tired and Sasuke had been sleeping in his bed that night, it just had nothing to do with why he was currently pale as a corpse.

Garuken arrived a minute later, curiously watching Runeji and Itachi stare each other down. There was no doubt who was going to win, since Runeji was freaked out by Uchiha eyes, but he was holding on strongly and looked more than determined to get whatever point he had across. "I found water." Garuken stated, holding up the field flask with water that he had collected from a steam near by.

Itachi, without breaking his eye contact with Runeji, made a gesture towards Hikari. "She has a migraine. She needs it." He said in a flat tone, his dark eyes boring into the very soul behind the purple eyes he was glaring into.

"That's stupid." Tsumori stated happily, nudging Runeji's butt with her elbow as she walked by with a basket full of berries, mushrooms and leaves at her hip and several fish slung over her shoulder. "Don't do stupid things, Rune-sensei. You're supposed to be the mature one." She added while piling everything down on a flat stone.

"I'm supposed to be the responsible one." Runeji corrected her, taking his eyes off of Itachi's in order to see what she had collected. "He's obviously not well and I just asked him what was wrong. He's acting like a kid." He said in a rather grumpy tone.

"He is a kid." Garuken reminded him. "He's only eight." He added, grinning widely when his sensei shot him a nasty glare. "It's funny. I'm the oldest one on this squad, and yet he's the one you expect to act the most responsible. Is it just because he's an Uchiha?" He asked, his tone slightly challenging. The twins observed them with great interest.

"No." Runeji replied coolly, suddenly very stoic and cold. "It's not because of who he is. It's because who you are. You are of the Bakuoni clan. You're supposed to be useless as a ninja and even worse as a person. Mori-chan is a Kitchi. The 'lucky' clan. According to myth, they are only good at anything by chance and luck."


End file.
